Meet Optica’s Central Ops & Strategy cats! 💼🐾 • Ollie: Executive armchair strategist • Olaf: Mandatory lap-time break enforcer • Solo & Roo: Server debuggers & light calibrators • Cosi: Senior Science Editor illustrating cat states in the sun #InternationalCatDay #OfficeCats

A cat’s eyes are nature’s ultimate optical zoom. Pupils narrow in daylight to sharpen contrast for hunting, then dilate at night to maximize light sensitivity. Learn more for #InternationalCatDay: https://bit.ly/459TJK4

Meet the cats of our External Affairs & Strategic Initiatives team! 🐾 • Evy: High-precision laser pointer tester • Penelope: Meeting attendee (until it runs late) • Storm: Resident Schrödinger’s (opti)cat • Dexter: Wavelength tracker between Zoom calls and zoomies #InternationalCatDay

Can you flip a quantum switch from afar? Researchers used EPR entanglement to remotely control a Schrödinger’s cat state without direct interaction! Celebrate #InternationalCatDay with this study in Optics Express: https://bit.ly/4yOzU7A

Meet the (Opti)cats of our Publishing team! 🐾📚 • Not-white Dot: Desktop layout & screen reviewer • Farley: Production review manager • Chole: Surface comfort tester • Penny: Morale boost & background supervisor #InternationalCatDay #OfficeCats

Can a cat exist without its grin? In quantum mechanics, the Quantum Cheshire Cat effect explores whether a particle can be separated from its physical properties (like polarization). Celebrate #InternationalCatDay with this study in JOSA B: https://bit.ly/3RDQiXS

Whether they’re demonstrating quantum superposition or just basking in a focused beam of light, cats and optics go paw-in-hand. #InternationalCatDay is coming up this Saturday, August 8th! Following along for more cat content! 🐾 https://bit.ly/3U0gBbw

Remote chemical sensing usually requires target mirrors-- a big barrier in emergencies. Researchers at PNNL developed an infrared system that detects hazardous aerosols up to 11m away using light reflected off everyday surface. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4yQdcfF

Apply to the Optica Ambassador program and be recognized as an emerging leader in optics and photonics. The deadline is fast approaching—applications are due by 9 August. For more information, and to apply, please visit: https://bit.ly/44KpQPq

This #InternationalFriendshipDay, we celebrate the lasting friendships formed in the optics community. At meetings, through student programs and the efforts of Optica Ambassadors, Optica works to bring people together. Make new connections at an Optica event near you: https://bit.ly/4fxlPCM

A new light-sheet microscopy system combining adaptive optics with rapid volumetric imaging can capture 3D seizure propagation 7x faster than previous systems! Read more: https://bit.ly/3RtUmtR #Optics #Neuroscience #Biomedicalimaging

Expand your global network! 2026 Ambassador Travis W. Sawyer calls the Optica Foundation Ambassador program a unique springboard to accelerate your leadership and outreach efforts. Apply for the 2027 cohort by 9 August: https://bit.ly/4hnV1aE

Have you cast your vote in the Optica Election yet? 👀 Your vote is important in deciding the future of Optica and guiding the Society’s direction. Check your Optica email for a message sent on 22 June with the instructions on how to access your ballot!

An ultrathin lens that shapes light into an optical needle can increase 3D medical imaging depth by 9x without losing high-resolution detail! Read more: https://bit.ly/4aSBlI4 #Optics #MedTech #Physics

Spider-silk inspired hydrogel fibers and AI enable high-resolution imaging inside tiny tissues space. The soft, light-transmitting fibers could allow safer, minimally invasive early detection of breast cancer hidden in narrow ducts. Read more: https://bit.ly/4wkCiBe #Optics #CancerResearch

A new technique combined adaptive optics and parallel OCT to capture high-speed, 3D views of cells in the living retina— enabling non-invasive early detection of blinding chorioretinal diseases. Read more: Read more: https://bit.ly/4g7WrFN #Optics #MedTech

Congratulations to Optica Board Member Marisa Edmund! Her company, Edmund Optics received the 2026 Private Company Boards of the Year Award from MLR Media for exceptional governance, strategic oversight, and leadership. Read the release here: https://bit.ly/4xRMzGo #Optics #Leadership

New #technology expands lidar sensing beyond distance and motion by mapping location, speed and material properties in one measurement. This could lead to safer autonomous vehicles and better sensing systems that work in poor visibility caused by glare, fog, or heavy rain. https://bit.ly/4aeBUvr 💡

The Optica elections for the 2027 offices are now open! Ballots will be distributed to current members in June, so ensure you can fully participate by confirming your contact information in your member profile. Your voice matters in the future of Optica; learn more: https://bit.ly/4w1KFBt

The June #solstice is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest in the Southern Hemisphere. This photo shows a snifter and a splash of cognac, making a liquid lens that captures the summer solstice boating on the Foster City lagoon. Dennis Hancock, Woodside, CA, USA

Today marks the June #solstice! For millennia, we leveraged the solstice to tell time. Now, optical lattice clocks use atoms trapped in a laser interference pattern to provide a high level of timekeeping accuracy. Follow along in this infographic on the evolution of timekeeping. ⚛️

Achieving 80°, the system provides a new solution for the practical application of augmented reality displays. Read "An expanded eye-box for a full-color see-through near-eye holographic display": https://bit.ly/4vWdYW4 #OPG_OpEx #AugmentedReality

One of the major limitations of the large FOV holographic display system is the small eye-box. To overcome the challenge, researchers created a system based on a holographic optical element to achieve a large FOV while the image light is focused at the entrance to the human pupil. #BoxDay 💡⚛️

"It’s very important to be able to educate not just the public, but the politicians in the importance of science, because they’re the guys that are sort of voting and pulling the trigger and pulling the voting switches in terms of whether we’re going to get money for research or education."

What are your thoughts about the importance of engagement by #scientists like yourself in public policy? "There is a ‘well of knowledge’ … [And] if you do nothing to replenish the well, eventually that well dries up."

Which project has had the biggest impact? "We came up with a technique to use short bursts of light from semiconductor lasers to drill holes in matter—diamond, metal, whatever it is. We basically engineered around the laws of Mother Nature—we didn’t break the laws; we engineered around them." 💡⚛️

In this installment, OPN talked with Optica Fellow Peter Delfyett, Distinguished Professor at CREOL and former NSBP president. Read how his innate sense of curiosity—and linking up with an ambitious research institution, CREOL—enabled a career of pathbreaking #research. https://bit.ly/4w2R8wb 💡⚛️

We spoke with 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physics David Wineland and asked about his work in quantum #physics and his thoughts on the field's future. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/4ozziyc 🧪

“As quantum computing gets better, we should be able to solve some physics problems theoretically that are intractable now. ” We know the thought experiment of Schrödinger’s Cat and its famous box, but where do we go from there? 💡🧪

For International #BoxDay, we are celebrating beyond Opticat's love for sitting in purrfectly-sized boxes! Boxes are critical to many scientific discoveries in #photonics, like imaging techniques, holographic displays and the foundation of #quantum physics. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4wfN4c3