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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Optics
Optics basics: Young’s double slit experiment
As I’ve so far been restricting my ‘optics basics’ posts to discussions of fundamental concepts related to optics, it might seem strange at first glance to dedicate a post to a single optical experiment. What will hopefully become clear, however, … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Optics basics
48 Comments
Faraday brings light and magnetism together (1845)
The more I read of Michael Faraday’s work, the more I am in awe of the scientist’s insights and abilities. As evidence of the remarkable intuition he had regarding the forces of nature, consider the following passage: I have long … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics, Physics
14 Comments
Faking tilt-shift photography, via Photoshop
I recently took another look at my post on depth of focus and depth of field, and noticed to my chagrin that the link to the original ‘miniworld’ pics, which show how a real scene can be made to look … Continue reading
Posted in Optics
2 Comments
Do optics like Darwin’s Dad!
A few days ago, I was wondeirng what else I could contribute to the celebration of the birthday of Charles Darwin, father of the theory of evolution which forms the cornerstone of modern biology. Of course, I’m an optical physicist, … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics
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Measuring the ‘kick’ of a photon leaving a fiber!
In physics, there are a number of fundamental and seemingly simple questions which have remained a source of controversy for years, even decades. Last month, a paper was published by a Chinese research group describing an experiment which throws new … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics
5 Comments
Focusing through a ‘maze’ of strong scattering
One of the broad challenges in a lot of optical applications involving visible light is simply that most materials aren’t particularly transparent. This is rather obvious, at a glance: materials can be strong absorbers of light, strong reflectors of light, … Continue reading
Posted in Optics
5 Comments
CNN Holograms? Not really.
I was planning to comment on the CNN ‘hologram’ effect that they used on election night, and though I see that Tom at Swans on Tea beat me to it (I wave angry fist in the air, shouting, “Curse you!”), … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Science news
10 Comments
Optics basics: Inverse problems
In previous posts, I’ve talked at some length about computed tomography (CT) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Each of these is a technique for determining information about the internal structure of an object, such as the human body, from exterior … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics, Optics basics
6 Comments
FiO: Day 4 and day 5
Well, I’m home! A hectic final few days at the FiO conference combined with a lack of hotel internet access prevented me from checking the blog very often (I would wander around the Hyatt, where I wasn’t staying, looking for … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Science news
4 Comments
FiO 2008: Day three
All the ‘big ticket’ events took place on the first and second days, so by day 3 I settled into listening to some shorter talks on various subjects. Also, day 3 is about the time I start trying to actually … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Science news
4 Comments
