A new laser-based technique could speed up the discovery of promising metamaterials for real-world applications.

Each month, our editors choose a Product of the Month that has exceptional technical merit and practical value for our design engineering readers. Those 11 products are the nominees for the 2023 Tech Briefs Readers’ Choice Product of the Year.

In contrast to conventional radio communications, frequency hopping (FH) defines a method of transmitting radio signals by rapidly changing its carrier frequency1 and was first mentioned by Nikola Tesla in his 1903 U.S. patent, “Method of Signaling.” Later, in 1942, actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil further solidified the concept by using a piano roll to change among 88 frequencies to prevent interference to the radio control of torpedoes.

Increased analog-to-digital converters (ADC) sample rates currently enable direct sampling RF systems through S-band and beyond. Advancements in ADC technology have enabled the proliferation of digital beamforming phased arrays. With these advancements, industry questions remain both on the single-channel performance capability of a direct sampling receiver and also the dynamic range improvements possible when many direct sampling receivers are distributed in large phased arrays.

High-power laser systems are making their way into more and more industrial applications. From cutting steel, to drilling via holes in silicon, to marking plastic, a whole range of processes now make use of the laser to produce results not previously practical. Advances in fiber lasers in particular, with their scalability, beam quality, and wall-plug efficiency, have made laser beams with powers of many tens of KW a common tool available to commercial users. Even processes requiring more modest power levels often use a high-power laser system and distribute the beam to multiple lower-power workstations to benefit from the resulting process uniformity across a production line.