by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
After many years of artist renderings, the first ever image of a black hole was released to the world in April. It looks just about how you would expect: a ring-like structure with a dark central region. The image was created using the Event Horizon Telescope, an...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
Later this summer, a NASA solar probe will travel into the corona of the Sun—closer than any mission before—through material with temperatures greater than a million degrees Fahrenheit. If the mission is successful, it will mark a great leap forward in knowledge of...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
In just sixty years transistors, the switching and memory units that allow computers to compute, have gone from the size of a hand to the size of an atom. In 1968 there were dozens of transistors on a microchip. Within a couple decades there were thousands. Today...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
The enormous loss of ocean life, somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 percent, is well documented. Three billion people already depend on fish for protein, and global demand for seafood is predicted to grow at least 40 percent in the next two decades. That’s what’s...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
A beam homogenizer is a device that unifies the profile of a light or laser beam, smooths out its irregularities, and ensures it has uniform power across its profile. Light and lasers can be homogenized in many ways, from beam-folding wedged mirrors and split prisms...
by stephen | Dec 17, 2021 | Blog
The costly optical assemblies that allow industrial lasers to weld and slice through metal must be protected from the extreme heat and debris caused by the manufacturing process. Most laser debris shields are made of fused silica, a relatively inexpensive material...
