Here we demonstrate a simple method to improve the plasmonic sensing performance of gold gratings. The gratings consist of periodic polymer gratings covered with a gold layer, created by nanoimprint lithography and metal deposition. We investigated the effect of gold thickness and the incident angles on the plasmonic sensing performance. With the optimized gold layer, the full-width at half max...

Remotely sensing the water status of plant canopies remains a long term goal of remote sensing research. Established approaches involve measurements in the thermal infrared and the 900-2000nm reflective infrared. Less popular UVvisible-NIR techniques presumably deserve research attention, because photochemical changes linked to plant water status manifest spectral light scattering and absorptio...

We demonstrate an interferometric fiber-optic bending/nano-displacement sensor based on a plastic dual-core fiber. The light coupled into the two fiber cores is first guided along the fiber, and then reflected by the mirror coated at the fiber end. Reflected light coming out of the fiber produces interference that shifts as the fiber bends. The interference shift is interrogated using a slit an...

Cryptochromes are blue light-sensing photoreceptors found in plants, animals, and humans. They are known to play key roles in the regulation of the circadian clock and in development. However, despite striking structural similarities to photolyase DNA repair enzymes, cryptochromes do not repair double-stranded DNA, and their mechanism of action is unknown. Recently, a blue light-dependent intra...

Recent technological advances in wireless communications have enabled easy installation of sensor networks with air conditioning equipment control applications. However, the sensor node power supply, through either power lines or battery power, still presents obstacles to the distribution of the sensing systems. In this study, a novel sensor network, powered by the artificial light, was constru...

ZnO film was deposited by the magnetron sputtering method. The thickness of ZnO film is approximately 2 μm. The influence of UV light illumination on C₂H₅OH sensing properties of ZnO film was investigated. Gas sensing results revealed that the UV-illuminated ZnO film displays excellent C₂H₅OH characteristics in terms of high sensitivity, excellent selectivity, rapid response/recovery, and low d...

The importance of light to normal plant growth and development cannot be overstated. As sessile photoautotrophs, plants depend on efficient light capture to compete and reproduce successfully within a relatively restricted geographical realm. For this purpose, these organisms have evolved very sophisticated sensory networks for monitoring the status of several important features of their illumi...

In this paper we propose a new framework for capturing light transport data of a real scene, based on the recently developed theory of compressive sensing. Compressive sensing offers a solid mathematical framework to infer a sparse signal from a limited number of non-adaptive measurements. Besides introducing compressive sensing for fast acquisition of light transport to computer graphics, we d...

Light perception is an intriguing subject, and it has been demonstrated that some animals can perceive wavelengths beyond human vision. However, it is still controversial whether animals can see mid-infrared radiation. A combination of two free-electron laser (FEL) facilities, LEBRA-FEL (Nihon University) and KU-FEL (Kyoto University), can provide light sources with high peak power and spatiall...

Enzyme-based electrochemical biosensors are an inspiration for the development of (bio)analytical techniques. However, the instability and reproducibility of the reactivity of enzymes, combined with the need for chemical reagents for sensing remain challenges for the construction of useful devices. Here we present a sensing strategy inspired by the advantages of enzymes and photoelectrochemical...