Group items tagged

Again bio-photonics. Cool subject, should have a look into.

really interesting and fascinating what evolution can do...!

as with my last post: how long could such distances get? ready for SPS?

how "large" could these distances be? - ready for SPS?

I don't think that the distance is the important criteria... It seems that the directivity is of the order of a laser one, so the divergence will be equivalent. Perhaps the important criteria is that the cost of these type of light sources could be cheaper...? and also perhaps what power transmission is achievable? It seems also that now that this concept could be used for to focus cheap lasers, instead of using complex optics in cd-rom players, etc... see http://news.softpedia.com/news/Highly-Directional-Semiconductor-Laser-Created-at-Harvard-90839.shtml

Biomimetic Gradient Index Lenses - from fish

A key technical barrier to furthering our understanding of complex neural networks has been the lack of tools for the simultaneous spatiotemporal control and detection of activity in a large number of neurons.

Is this of any interest?

A number of biological models with interesting photonic properties are reviewed, such as butterfly wings or moth eyes.

Electromagnetic analysis of cylindrical invisibility cloaks and the mirage effect

Single molecule detection: Might this be of interest for detecting proteins or other stuff on Mars etc.?

The authors report a simple self-assembly technique for fabricating antireflection coatings that mimic antireflective moth eyes. Wafer-scale, nonclose-packed colloidal crystals with remarkable large hexagonal domains are created by a spin-coating technolo

A model is provided for the image formation by a three-dimensional lens with negative index of refraction (n) and compared with results for an array of split-ring resonators (SRRs) and wires. For n=−1, a linear decrease in image distance r is expected w

Researchers have demonstrated a spinning liquid mirror design that could be used for the main mirror of a huge infrared telescope based on the moon.

Spectral dispersion of light on a finite-size surface plasmon polaritonic (SPP) crystal has been studied. The angular wavelength separation of one or more orders of magnitude higher than in other state-of-the-art wavelength-splitting devices available to

An entire issue of a J R Soc is about iridescence in bio-things. Anyone interested in deepening this topic?

Full pdf

A whole collection of articles on biomimetic materials science. Definitely worth a look.

NASA still on active sensors...

Again me. This time a series of animals eyes. Visual enough for everyone to see nice things and maybe have nice thoughts about it.

Nice work of an insect-like zoom camera without moving parts.