During a lung biopsy, physicians must navigate a needle to a suspected lesion deep within the body, often with limited visibility of the tissue directly in front of the needle tip. What if they could see exactly where they were before taking the sample?

In this episode of Rays and Waves, Daniel and Steven sit down with Reza Khorasani, Founder and CEO of LEADOPTIK. During his postdoctoral work in Federico Capasso's group at Harvard, Reza helped pioneer metaoptics and metalenses through several influential research contributions. Today, he is bringing those innovations into the clinic through needle-based optical imaging systems that combine Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and advanced metaoptics to provide real-time visualization during lung biopsies.

We explore the optical engineering behind this remarkable technology, the challenges of translating cutting-edge research into medical devices, and Reza's journey from academia to building a fast-growing medtech startup with the potential to improve cancer diagnostics and patient outcomes.

If you enjoy the show, share it with your colleagues, subscribe, and leave us a review! Got thoughts or questions? Reach out at rays.and.waves.podcast@gmail.com

Music is Good Vibe by Twisterium. Thanks for the great tunes!

While massive interferometers orbit the earth or span kilometers to detect gravitational waves, the real workhorses of optical metrology live quietly on the benches of optical labs and manufacturing floors worldwide. These instruments are not measuring black hole mergers, but they are the reason the high-performance optics inside our semiconductors, aerospace systems, and consumer electronics actually work.

In this episode of Rays and Waves, Daniel and Steven sit down with Xavier Colonna De Lega, Director of the Innovations Group at Zygo. Since the early 1970s, Zygo has been so central to the field of optical metrology that its name has become practically synonymous with interferometry itself.

Xavier has spent his career shaping the instruments that verify the modern world’s most precise components. We explore the evolution of industrial metrology, how Zygo has scaled specialized research into essential production tools, and what it takes to measure surface flatness down to a fraction of a wavelength. It is a deep dive into the practical engineering that bridges the gap between theoretical optical design and large-scale manufacturing.

If you enjoy the show, share it with your colleagues, subscribe, and leave us a review! Got thoughts or questions? Reach out at rays.and.waves.podcast@gmail.com

Music is Good Vibe by Twisterium. Thanks for the great tunes!

A pair of binoculars might be the closest thing to a superpower you can buy. That is how a friend once described them while gifting a pair to his wife, and it is easy to see why.

In this episode of Rays and Waves, Daniel and Steven explore the surprisingly rich optical engineering behind binoculars. From magnification and aperture to prisms, coatings, and color performance, we follow the history of binoculars.

What seems simple is full of clever design trade‑offs. This episode connects everyday optics to fundamental engineering principles, revealing why small choices make a big difference in how we see the world.

If you enjoy the show, share it with your colleagues, subscribe, and leave us a review. Got thoughts or questions? Reach out at rays.and.waves.podcast@gmail.com

Intro music is Good Vibe by Twisterium. Thanks for the great tunes!