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Fiber Optics For Environmental Sensing
By: John Selker, Oregon State University
A staple of the oil industry, distributed temperature sensing (DTS)—capable of measuring temperature along a length of fiber-optic cable—is finding utility in environmental monitoring, helping researchers to tease out the hydrology of streams, air flow in valleys, and health of glaciers.

Linear Avalanche Photodiodes Enable Single Photon Sensors
By: Leye Aina, Harry Hier, and Ayub Fathimulla, Epitaxial Technologies LLC, Sachi Babu, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Jim Foshee, Air Force Research Laboratory, Sensor Directorate (AFRL/RYTD)
Single photons are elementary particles that are arguably the most tangible, yet some of the most difficult to detect and characterize as single entities. Techniques to count single photons require optical detectors with linear operation, high gain, wide bandwidth and low noise. This article will describe a variety of approaches to detect and count single photons, the key measurement metrics, and potential applications of single photon sensors.

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