Messenger RNA (mRNA) technology made headlines five years ago when Pfizer and Moderna vaccines arrived in the fight against COVID-19. Today, mRNA research is expanding into cancer treatments, cardiovascular regeneration, and other areas. Igor Lednev is a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University at Albany. His lab is developing a new technique to test mRNA-based therapeutics using lasers. On this episode of “All Things Photonics,” Igor discusses his work to evaluate mRNA vaccines and treatments through Raman spectroscopy, and he explains the role laser spectroscopy will play in advancing modern medicine.

Every White House administration has its priorities. Government reform and the elimination of waste are among President Donald Trump's top priorities. Cutting down on waste is not a partisan issue; no one wants to throw away money. But how you define waste can draw a mixed response. The president has targeted scientific grants as an area in need of reform, and according to a piece published by Nature, more than 7,800 grants have been terminated or frozen. Dan Garisto is a freelance physics journalist and is one of the three authors of this piece. On this episode of All Things Photonics, he discusses the biggest findings of his work as he dug into the status of U.S. science one year into the president’s second term.

Optikos Corporation CEO and founder Stephen Fantone joins the podcast. In this exclusive interview, Fantone discusses the pathways and opportunities that professional organizations create, and their profound influence on individuals at all stages and in all reaches of professional life. Fantone chairs the board of the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, is past president of Optica, and chairperson emeritus of the Pioneer Institute.

XR technology has moved from a novelty to something more ubiquitous, with real applications in communication, training, entertainment, and much more. Helping propel these systems is the newly formed AR Alliance. This group recently became a division of SPIE, and together they elevated the advances in XR systems at the AR/VR/MR Expo during Photonics West. With so many industry leaders making the trip to San Francisco for the leading event in our industry, we decided to capitalize on this rare opportunity to bring together six of the brightest minds in XR for a conversation on the future of this market, the emerging tech driving innovation, and the importance of collaboration.

"All Things Photonics"® is produced by Photonics Media and airs biweekly, on Tuesdays.

Online crooks commit what’s called “harvest-now-decrypt-later” attacks to record data in transit to later decode for all the valuable information. There is a way to stop it, but it takes more than some antivirus software. CyberRidge is a photonic encryption technology and security startup. Its flagship product is a plug-and-play photonic-layer transmission system that integrates with existing fiber to transform your data into encrypted noise as it travels to its destination. In this episode, we’ll chat with Dan Sadot, the founder and CEO of CyberRidge. He shares his thoughts on the crimes driving demand for this tech, the groups likely to use it, and the finer points of post-quantum optical security for data in transit.

We are teaming up with the journal Optica to bring you insights into the latest studies driving breakthroughs in optics and photonics. Traditional magnetometers are big and can only operate in extremely cold temperatures. But a new chip-scale magnetometer could offer high-precision readings in an ultra-compact form, while still operating at room temperature. Paolo Pintus from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and the University of Cagliari, Italy, joins us to talk about the silicon photonics and innovative materials behind this discovery.

The interference with satellites actively in use for military operations is a real threat to security and civilian safety. But laser communication could provide a deployable solution to the front lines. Unlike radio-frequency links, laser terminals use narrowly focused optical beams that are difficult to jam or intercept. Pairing lasers with existing systems could prove to be unstoppable. Astrolight, a Lithuanian space and defense company, has already deployed terminals used by NATO forces. In this episode, Dalius Petrulionis, co-founder and CTO of Astrolight, discusses how lasers are advancing communication technology and the real-world turmoil that is driving demand for these systems.

The start of the new year means the return of the biggest event in our industry, SPIE’s Photonics West. Returning to the Moscone Center in San Francisco for its 31st year, the showcase promises to be even bigger than ever with more than 1,500 exhibitors from around the world set to display their latest and greatest tech. In this Spotlight conversation, Bob Hainsey, Senior Director of Science, Technology, and Industry for SPIE, previews some of the biggest changes to this year’s event and offers some helpful tips for attendees.

From TVs to AR/VR headsets, tech giants have always pushed for the highest picture resolution. That push may soon come to an end after researchers demonstrate the smallest pixels to date, reaching the very limits of the human eye. Using nanoparticles, those pixels reproduce colors whose dimensions and arrangement control how light is scattered, and its optical properties can be electrically tuned. A new retina e-paper has allowed researchers to create pixels so small that they can correspond to a single photon receptor in the eye. In this episode, Kunli Xiong, an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Uppsala University, explains how this technology could go beyond AR/VR systems and improve remote collaboration and even accelerate scientific research.

We are teaming up with Optica to bring you insights into the latest studies that are leading to breakthroughs in optics and photonics. In this episode, we’re joined by, Jannick Rolland, the Brian J. Thompson Professor in Optical Engineering at the University of Rochester, to explore how freeform optics are reshaping modern optical design. Following her work in a study published in the journal Optica, Rolland discusses her successes and setbacks in her early works with freeform optics and talks about the potential for this technology in a range of applications.