The Karolinska Institute has announced that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for the discovery of light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. The article explains how the channelrhodopsin ChR2 is activated by blue light and discusses how optogenetics adds precision writing capability to brain-computer interfaces.
Lightwave has launched a reader poll on the practice of carriers such as AT&T and Verizon converting traditional central office facilities into data centers after shutting down copper-based voice services. Verizon said on its second-quarter earnings call that it is converting central offices to support AI inference.
The article argues that AI capabilities can be upgraded over the air, but the optical experience of a diffractive waveguide is hard to fix once finalized. The development of Leqi's second-generation AI glasses focuses on four engineering challenges: hiding the grating, suppressing rainbow artifacts, thinning the lens, and reducing reflections while preserving brightness. These are also the issues consumer AI glasses must solve to look like ordinary eyewear.
Under-display cameras are back in the spotlight after the unveiling of Apple's first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo. Red Magic has also announced ninth-generation under-display camera technology, continuing with a true full-screen design. The article reviews how most makers returned to punch-hole designs after under-display cameras entered mass production six years ago.
A Laser Focus World article weighs building a laser beam analysis solution against buying one, noting that although high-quality cameras and low-cost computing are widely available and a home-built beam profiler may seem simple, 11 factors need to be considered in practice.
A Laser Focus World article describes how photonics provides new measurement tools for agriculture, including monitoring crop conditions, assessing food quality and controlling plant growth.
An article by OFweek Laser notes that in 2025 Maxphotonics became the first company worldwide to ship 10,000 10 kW-class fiber lasers. Drawing on observations from the Shanghai industry fair, the article discusses how 10 kW lasers can sustain growth as the fiber laser industry shifts from price wars to competition on new fronts.
A Laser Focus World article notes that fusion research has shifted toward private investment over the past five years after more than 60 years of public funding. The article examines whether high-power laser diodes are ready to drive inertial fusion energy (IFE).
Smartphone makers have entered another intensive product launch cycle, with larger sensors, longer telephoto reach, stronger stabilization and computational photography remaining key launch highlights. The article argues that as performance and displays mature, imaging remains the core battleground for differentiation and winning premium users.
The article argues that the core bottleneck keeping AR glasses from the mass market is not chips or software, but the micro-optical engine inside the temples. The micro-optical engine is the image-generation core of AR glasses, and its price remains high even after mass production, with most mass-produced models still selling for several thousand yuan or even more than 10,000 yuan.
The article analyzes the computing requirements of vision-only and LiDAR-fusion approaches in autonomous driving, arguing that computing demand is not simply determined by the number of sensors, but by how the perception system processes data and by its algorithm architecture.
After shooting Victoria Harbour fireworks with the iPhone 18 Pro Max, Leikeji concluded that Apple adjusted its imaging approach on the 18 Pro series launched on September 10, making the camera capabilities worth attention.
An article by Haitun Jun continues the breakdown of Lumentum: EML secures the core profit base of pluggable optical transceivers, while high-power discrete lasers, UHP CW, bet on next-generation CPO/NPO architectures. With supply and demand severely mismatched for high-end laser chips, leading manufacturers with in-house capacity simultaneously benefit from price increases, long-term orders and rising gross margins.
A Laser Focus World article analyzes the surge in industry interest in MicroLED co-packaged optics (CPO) solutions, reflecting their multiple advantages, although technical challenges remain to be resolved.
Why we recommend it: The article reviews the advantages and challenges of MicroLED shifting from displays to optical interconnects, helping assess the maturity of this CPO route
Phys.org reports that the pink cricket ball was introduced for day-night matches more than a decade ago and approved for trials by the International Cricket Council this June; research shows its visibility under different lighting conditions is not always ideal.
In an interview, NVision CTO Ilai Schwartz explains that the company is betting on chemically designed photonic interconnects, arguing that this will make modular quantum computing hardware scalable, with a single chip potentially holding up to 100,000 molecular qubits.
A Laser Focus World article covers the key process parameters for laser welding of Nitinol, including shielding gas delivery, heat control and post-weld treatment, along with methods for evaluating weld quality.
A Laser Focus World article notes that optical designs can meet specifications yet still fail at the system level, for example when imaging instrument output is interpreted by algorithms rather than the human eye. The article advocates using virtual prototyping to evaluate system performance before building hardware.