We use light for general applications for sight and visibility, but some technologies use light for other purposes. These interesting devices use light as a resource for power or to activate a mechanism. By understanding how these technologies use light, we may further understand how to utilize its power.
Disk Drive
Every disc we place in a device to read has a pattern of bumps and grooves embedded into the surface that serve as coded information. The disk drive shines a laser from a light assembly onto the disk as a motor spins it. The light will sense the patterns on the surface and process that information into a readable signal for the device. Many of us have used technology that uses light this way, such as a gaming console or a portable CD player, and it continues to be useful in most modern technologies.
Fiber Optic Cables
These cables’ special design allows data to transfer through a beam of light. One end of the cable takes the data of a source and transmits it as a light that travels down a glass tube, or fiber, no larger than a human hair.
The light bounces off the walls of the tube until it reaches the other device and supplies the data it carries along the light beam. Many large networks rely on these cables for fast transmission over great distances.
There are two types of fiber optic cables: the single mode and the multimode. Numerous types of multimode fiber optic cables perform various functions and have higher capabilities depending on the type. The cable will enhance a network regardless of its classification.
3D Printers
The 3D printer uses light technology to focus lasers that fuse a powder of various materials, such as ABS and PLA. The fusion occurs layer by layer until the image loaded into the computer is finished. The 3D printer, like the 2D printer, may malfunction now and then, but it is a fascinating technology that uses light and has plenty of potential.
Mixed Reality Technology
Many of us are familiar with the concept of virtual reality and augmented reality, such as a VR headset or the Pokemon Go app. A mixture of the two is known as mixed reality. Mixed reality combines augmented reality’s virtual overlay and interactive properties to create an immersive world where physical properties and virtual elements interact in real-time.
Mixed reality technology uses light technology to sense the world around you and create a virtual overlay that allows imaging of the world through a form camera or ocular device and allows you to see and interact with it. Examples of mixed reality may include the camera filters on social media apps, such as Snapchat, or apps that allow you to place a virtual version of furniture in your room to estimate how it will fit.
Technology that uses light continues to advance as the years pass. Learning more about how we may use light for devices will create new opportunities for people through the new technology that arises and makes life easier.
