'Top of the pops' on optics.org

24 Oct 2006

September's figures for the Top 10 most-read stories on optics.org reveal that a few old favourites have staying power but it is mainly fresh material that has caught your eye.

Three stories from August's most-read articles are still in September's Top 10 but other technology news items hot off last month's o.o press fill the other top spots (as well as positions 11-20).

It is satisfying for us to know that we are providing our ever-growing optics community with the news you need.

Another innovation from September has been the development of optics.org's membership, which has seen our registered community increase by more than 25% in less than two months.

Signing up (at no cost) gives you access to exclusive content, where we feel we have dug extra deep to find the detailed information our readers are seeking.

So if you didn't catch them the first time round, here are September's Top 10 most-read news reports (don't forget to keep checking us because new items go up every day).

optics.org's Top 10 in September 2006

• Thin-disk laser beats power record. No drop in power here - it's up from No. 2 in August.

• Blue laser disc to allow 200 GB capacity. New in our chart, in the same month that the first Blu-ray machines went on sale.

• Triple-junction solar cells enter the mainstream. Straight in at No. 3, as yet another survey says we must all be more energy efficient and find novel power sources.

• Concrete casts new light in dull rooms.This rock solid news item seems to have set at No. 4 in August.

• Lasers tackle radioactive waste. Nuclear power is never far from the news agenda and still at No. 5.

• High output RGB sources promise laser TV 'by 2007'. "Laser TV" is the first search term to temporarily bounce "optics" from the key search term during the whole 10 year lifetime of optics.org.

• Superlens microscope gets up close. There's another world down there.

• Intel claims silicon laser revolution. Many scientists regard silicon-based sources as the "Holy Grail" for laser R&D.

• 'Lumalive' textile presents variable LED display. It's new - and so fashionable; catch up with the catwalk models with optics you can wear.

• Research reveals how blue LEDs emit light. Those short wavelengths are clearly long on interest.