Innovative optical systems control light in novel ways

The realm of optical systems extends far beyond the traditional setup of a series of lenses and some sort of image sensor. For example, the addition of nonlinear optics can change the wavelength of light passing through the system, radically alter the properties of an image, or otherwise change light in ways that linear optics could never do. Active optics with movable elements can also change light in useful ways, enabling wavelength tuning and other alterations of a light beams properties. This e-digest focuses on the properties of innovative optical systems, with articles on -- a nonlinear all-optical method to upconvert the wavelength of 2-D images, An ultrafast nonlinear optical time telescope that squeezes more data into the same duration and an active MEMS blazed grating that is tunable and very efficient.