Mikhail Kats
@mickeykats.bsky.social
Optics/photonics researcher, applied physicist, and faculty at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Personal account + opinions
Was @mickeykats on Twitter
Was @mickeykats on Twitter
It's nice to break up problems into pieces, but there are certain concepts that are hard to understand without considering the whole system
For example, destructive and constructive interference of two light beams is very confusing until you draw the light source, beam splitters, and power meters
For example, destructive and constructive interference of two light beams is very confusing until you draw the light source, beam splitters, and power meters
November 27, 2025 at 7:05 PM
It's nice to break up problems into pieces, but there are certain concepts that are hard to understand without considering the whole system
For example, destructive and constructive interference of two light beams is very confusing until you draw the light source, beam splitters, and power meters
For example, destructive and constructive interference of two light beams is very confusing until you draw the light source, beam splitters, and power meters
Free idea for the Coca Cola company
November 27, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Free idea for the Coca Cola company
I don't get the concept of upscaling individual images, absent further context. Seems like you're just inviting the upscaling tool to invent features that are not there in reality
Upscaling of an image should take, as inputs, other images of the same object
Upscaling of an image should take, as inputs, other images of the same object
November 26, 2025 at 8:38 PM
I don't get the concept of upscaling individual images, absent further context. Seems like you're just inviting the upscaling tool to invent features that are not there in reality
Upscaling of an image should take, as inputs, other images of the same object
Upscaling of an image should take, as inputs, other images of the same object
One would have thought that work would slow down the day before thanksgiving, but here we are
November 26, 2025 at 8:17 PM
One would have thought that work would slow down the day before thanksgiving, but here we are
So, are journal covers being made by AI yet
November 26, 2025 at 7:49 PM
So, are journal covers being made by AI yet
Reposted by Mikhail Kats
Our paper just out in Advanced Functional Materials: "Photonic engineering enables all-passive upconversion imaging with low-intensity near-infrared light" advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 💡🧪
November 17, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Our paper just out in Advanced Functional Materials: "Photonic engineering enables all-passive upconversion imaging with low-intensity near-infrared light" advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 💡🧪
Very cool* funding opportunity:
Due 3 weeks after initial posting (with Thanksgiving in there just before the deadline), for multimillion dollar projects needing many partners, 35-page main narrative + approved budget + everything else, and a nonstandard overhead rate
*Actually quite uncool
Due 3 weeks after initial posting (with Thanksgiving in there just before the deadline), for multimillion dollar projects needing many partners, 35-page main narrative + approved budget + everything else, and a nonstandard overhead rate
*Actually quite uncool
November 25, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Very cool* funding opportunity:
Due 3 weeks after initial posting (with Thanksgiving in there just before the deadline), for multimillion dollar projects needing many partners, 35-page main narrative + approved budget + everything else, and a nonstandard overhead rate
*Actually quite uncool
Due 3 weeks after initial posting (with Thanksgiving in there just before the deadline), for multimillion dollar projects needing many partners, 35-page main narrative + approved budget + everything else, and a nonstandard overhead rate
*Actually quite uncool
Read in full
November 24, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Read in full
One small step:
* Freshman year I learned about optical tweezers in a lab class -- discovering than (small-scale) tractor beams were actually real. That was at least part of the reason to switch to applied physics from CS
* Freshman year I learned about optical tweezers in a lab class -- discovering than (small-scale) tractor beams were actually real. That was at least part of the reason to switch to applied physics from CS
November 24, 2025 at 7:46 PM
One small step:
* Freshman year I learned about optical tweezers in a lab class -- discovering than (small-scale) tractor beams were actually real. That was at least part of the reason to switch to applied physics from CS
* Freshman year I learned about optical tweezers in a lab class -- discovering than (small-scale) tractor beams were actually real. That was at least part of the reason to switch to applied physics from CS
This semester I increased the number of in-class exams (to 3), reduced the weight of homework (10% of the grade), and replaced the final-project report with a (very) short in-class presentation
It doesn't scale well with # of students but basically addresses any issues with AI-related learning loss
It doesn't scale well with # of students but basically addresses any issues with AI-related learning loss
November 24, 2025 at 5:05 AM
This semester I increased the number of in-class exams (to 3), reduced the weight of homework (10% of the grade), and replaced the final-project report with a (very) short in-class presentation
It doesn't scale well with # of students but basically addresses any issues with AI-related learning loss
It doesn't scale well with # of students but basically addresses any issues with AI-related learning loss
Brittle starfish and trilobites, Ordovician period, about 450 million years old
November 23, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Brittle starfish and trilobites, Ordovician period, about 450 million years old
My retirement plan is to build a science & engineering museum, or a tea shop, or possibly both
November 23, 2025 at 4:44 PM
My retirement plan is to build a science & engineering museum, or a tea shop, or possibly both
Bought a entry-level GPU for a student and suddenly calculations he's doing are almost instant
Magical technology, honestly
Magical technology, honestly
November 21, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Bought a entry-level GPU for a student and suddenly calculations he's doing are almost instant
Magical technology, honestly
Magical technology, honestly
On that one Feynman clip about magnets
Just remembered (and looked up) my thoughts on this clip from 2021* and the way in which people over-apply Feynman's point
*I do miss old twitter
*I do miss old twitter
November 21, 2025 at 6:54 AM
On that one Feynman clip about magnets
Incremental science is important, and it would be better if we didn't look down on it for funding & paper decisions
Anyway, probably 95+% of papers and proposals that claim big breakthroughs are actually incremental
Anyway, probably 95+% of papers and proposals that claim big breakthroughs are actually incremental
It's sad that AI conference reviewers use "incremental" as reason to reject a paper -- e.g., "the contribution of this paper is incremental; reject". Where do they think most progress in science comes from, and what eventually fuels big discoveries?
November 20, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Incremental science is important, and it would be better if we didn't look down on it for funding & paper decisions
Anyway, probably 95+% of papers and proposals that claim big breakthroughs are actually incremental
Anyway, probably 95+% of papers and proposals that claim big breakthroughs are actually incremental
Reposted by Mikhail Kats
Know the difference.
November 19, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Know the difference.
The funding environment is rough right now
And I'm in a field that is (roughly) a priority. Working in, say, climate science must just be basically impossible right now..
And I'm in a field that is (roughly) a priority. Working in, say, climate science must just be basically impossible right now..
November 19, 2025 at 5:09 PM
The funding environment is rough right now
And I'm in a field that is (roughly) a priority. Working in, say, climate science must just be basically impossible right now..
And I'm in a field that is (roughly) a priority. Working in, say, climate science must just be basically impossible right now..
Just remembered "garfield minus garfield", where Garfield is removed from the comic strips, so it's basically just Jon going insane
November 19, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Just remembered "garfield minus garfield", where Garfield is removed from the comic strips, so it's basically just Jon going insane
Very little Waymo expansion across the midwest =( www.understandingai.org/p/waymos-nex...
November 19, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Very little Waymo expansion across the midwest =( www.understandingai.org/p/waymos-nex...
Woah, a 427-1 vote in the House and unanimous in the Senate? I didn't think such votes could still exist
November 18, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Woah, a 427-1 vote in the House and unanimous in the Senate? I didn't think such votes could still exist
Huh, Chad Powers is a surprising show
November 18, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Huh, Chad Powers is a surprising show
Our paper just out in Advanced Functional Materials: "Photonic engineering enables all-passive upconversion imaging with low-intensity near-infrared light" advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 💡🧪
November 17, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Our paper just out in Advanced Functional Materials: "Photonic engineering enables all-passive upconversion imaging with low-intensity near-infrared light" advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 💡🧪
I have a google calendar entry showing up that I made like a decade ago (made for a bet, that I am clearly about to win), and it's annoying that there is apparently no way to see the exact date when it was created
November 17, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I have a google calendar entry showing up that I made like a decade ago (made for a bet, that I am clearly about to win), and it's annoying that there is apparently no way to see the exact date when it was created
Reposted by Mikhail Kats
We Can Now Track Individual Monarch Butterflies. It’s a Revelation.
From NYT Science:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
From NYT Science:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
November 17, 2025 at 3:14 PM
We Can Now Track Individual Monarch Butterflies. It’s a Revelation.
From NYT Science:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
From NYT Science:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...
The overall vision of bluesky, of a social network on an open protocol with account portability, is really great, and is the reason I'm here
But my impression is that there is no vision for growth of the network anymore. It's a shame
But my impression is that there is no vision for growth of the network anymore. It's a shame
November 17, 2025 at 1:46 AM
The overall vision of bluesky, of a social network on an open protocol with account portability, is really great, and is the reason I'm here
But my impression is that there is no vision for growth of the network anymore. It's a shame
But my impression is that there is no vision for growth of the network anymore. It's a shame