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Category: augmented reality

Hybrid projector delivers super-resolution images across extended depth with 16-fold gain

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a novel image projection system that delivers super-resolution images over an extended depth of field. By combining a neural network-based digital encoder with a passive all-optical diffractive decoder, the system drastically compresses image data for efficient transmission of image information. This platform operates without extra power at the decoding stage, promising advancements for next-generation virtual and augmented reality displays.

The study is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.

A research team led by Professors Aydogan Ozcan and Mona Jarrahi, along with UCLA graduate student Hanlong Chen, designed a system that divides the image projection workload into two parts.

Metastatic cancer detection and management with artificial intelligence and augmented reality (Review)

Metastatic cancer remains a significant global health challenge, contributing to the majority of cancer-related mortality due to late detection, therapeutic resistance and the complexity of disseminated disease. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) are transforming the landscape of metastatic cancer detection and management. AI-driven tools, including radiomics, deep learning models, and predictive analytics, enhance early identification of metastatic lesions, improve diagnostic accuracy, and support personalized treatment strategies by integrating multimodal clinical, imaging and molecular data. At the same time, AR technologies are increasingly applied in image-guided surgery, real-time tumor visualization and patient education, enabling more precise interventions and improved clinical decision-making.

No more guesswork in drug design—atomic-resolution method exposes what trial and error keep missing

Drug discovery still too often relies on expensive trial and error. Researchers from ICTER show there is another way—building molecules step by step and observing their behavior at atomic resolution. This approach could significantly speed up the development of new therapies while reducing side effects.

The starting point of the study, published in Diabetology by Vineeta Kaushik, Saurav Karmakar, and Humberto Fernandes, is aldose reductase (AR)—an enzyme that has long been at the center of research into diabetic complications. Under conditions of chronic hyperglycemia, the so-called polyol pathway becomes overactive, converting glucose into sorbitol. Its accumulation leads to osmotic stress, redox imbalance, and ultimately cellular damage.

This mechanism is directly linked to complications such as diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy. Inhibiting aldose reductase, therefore, appears to be an obvious therapeutic strategy. Yet despite decades of research, no drug has successfully combined strong efficacy with a favorable safety profile.

Chip Can Project Video the Size of a Grain of Sand

Engineers have created a 1-square-millimeter chip that can project a photograph onto an area smaller than the size of two human egg cells. This precise laser control could have applications in augmented reality, biomedical imaging, and quantum computing.

MEMS array to steer lasers for quantum computer finds other uses.

Why this single-chip LED advance could shrink AR glasses and boost quantum links

Researchers at The University of Osaka, in collaboration with ULVAC, Inc. and Ritsumeikan University, have developed a new LED structure that generates circularly polarized light from a single chip. By combining a semipolar InGaN light-emitting structure with a stripe-shaped silicon nitride metasurface, the team created a compact light source that reduces energy-conversion loss and operates at room temperature.

This advancement could help bring ultra-compact, durable light sources closer to practical use in AR/VR, 3D displays, quantum communication, and optical security. The work is published in the journal Optical Materials Express.

Circularly polarized light is useful for a wide range of next-generation technologies. However, previous circularly polarized LEDs have struggled to combine high polarization, high efficiency, durability, and scalable manufacturing. In many previous designs, only one circular polarization component can be extracted from unpolarized light, placing a theoretical limit of 50% on conversion efficiency.

Abstract: In ProstateCancer, treatment resistance and disease progression can be promoted by androgen receptor splice variants

Here, Johann de Bono, Luke Gaughan & team identify the protein TRA2B as being key for the synthesis of AR-Vs.

1Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, Paul O’Gorman Building, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.

2The Institute for Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom.

3The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.

4Newcastle University Bioinformatics Service Unit, Medical School, Newcastle University, Newcastle, United Kingdom.

Tiny LED design could power next-generation technology

From 3D movie screens to augmented-reality devices, many modern technologies rely on our ability to manipulate light. Doing so in a cost-effective and efficient way, however, is often a formidable task. In an article published in Optics Letters, researchers from the University of Osaka announced a new light-emitting diode (LED) design that may help shrink complex optical systems into much smaller devices. The LED produces circularly polarized light using a built-in nanostructured surface, eliminating the need for bulky external optical components.

Circularly polarized light, whose electric field rotates like a corkscrew as it travels, is essential for technologies such as 3D displays, advanced imaging systems, and quantum communication tools. Traditionally, generating this kind of light requires optical components such as polarizers and special plates that modify the light’s phase. However, these components make devices larger, more complex, and harder to integrate.

“Our goal is to simplify the way circularly polarized light is produced,” says corresponding author Shuhei Ichikawa. “By integrating polarization control directly into the LED with a specially designed metasurface, we remove the need for additional optical components.”

Validation of the MOG-AR ScoreA Retrospective Multicenter Study

Validation of the MOG-AR score: a retrospective multicenter study.

Recently, a simple score (the MOG-AR Score), including onset age, sex, onset attack phenotype, use of immunosuppressive therapy, and duration of oral glucocorticoids treatment, has been proposed to identify patients at high relapse risk since onset.11

The aim of this study was to provide the first validation of the MOG-AR Score in a national multicenter cohort and to assess other factors associated with a relapsing disease.

Metasurface-based SLM could enhance AR, VR and LiDAR performance

Many cutting-edge technologies, ranging from augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to LiDAR (light detection and ranging) systems, rely on components that enable the precise control of light. These components include so-called spatial light modulators (SLMs), systems that dynamically adjust the position of a light wave within its cycle (i.e., phase), as well as its amplitude or direction across several pixels.

Conventional SLMs rely on liquid crystals, materials in a state of matter at the intersection between solid and liquid. While these components are widely used, they typically struggle to reach the speed and pixel density required to create high-quality three-dimensional (3D) images known as holographs.

Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and other institutes recently developed a new metasurface, an ultrathin and nano-engineered surface, that could be used to produce dynamic and high-quality holographic images in real time, with a remarkable definition. The new metasurface, introduced in a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, was used to create a SLM that could be used to enhance the performance of AR, VR, and LiDAR technology.

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