https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Every time you check the time on your phone, make an online transaction, or use a navigation app, you are depending on the precision of atomic clocks. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-physicists-precision-atomic-clocks-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 08 Oct 2025 13:05:05 EDT news679147502 Relaying a message from point A to B can be as simple as flashing a thumbs-up at a stranger in an intersection, signaling them to proceed—nonverbal, clear, and universally understood. But light-based communication is rarely that straightforward. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-tiny-crystal-undeterred.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:52:04 EDT news676637522 Axions, hypothetical subatomic particles that were first proposed by theoretical physicists in the late 1970s, remain among the most promising dark matter candidates. Physics theories suggest that the interactions between these particles and regular matter are extremely weak, which makes them very difficult to detect using conventional experimental set-ups. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-results-haystac-phase-ii-dark.html General Physics Mon, 12 May 2025 11:20:01 EDT news666265461 Optical atomic clocks can increase the precision of time and geographic position a thousandfold in our mobile phones, computers, and GPS systems. However, they are currently too large and complex to be widely used in society. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-microcomb-chips-potential-centimeter-gps.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:59:04 EST news659357935 Superconducting materials are similar to the carpool lane in a congested interstate. Like commuters who ride together, electrons that pair up can bypass the regular traffic, moving through the material with zero friction. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-physicists-key-aspect-superconductivity-magic.html Superconductivity Wed, 05 Feb 2025 11:00:08 EST news657883337 Here on Earth, it might not matter if your wristwatch runs a few seconds slow. But crucial spacecraft functions need accuracy down to one billionth of a second or less. Navigating with GPS, for example, relies on precise timing signals from satellites to pinpoint locations. Three teams at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, are at work to push timekeeping for space exploration to new levels of precision. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-reinventing-clock-nasa-tech-space.html Space Exploration Wed, 18 Sep 2024 12:28:04 EDT news645881281 The operation of a quantum computer relies on encoding and processing information in the form of quantum bits—defined by two states of quantum systems such as electrons and photons. Unlike binary bits used in classical computers, quantum bits can exist in a combination of zero and one simultaneously—in principle allowing them to perform certain calculations exponentially faster than today's largest supercomputers. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-theoretical-advancing-modular-quantum.html Condensed Matter Thu, 15 Aug 2024 12:20:15 EDT news642943209 Scientists cannot observe dark matter directly, so to "see" it, they look for signals that it has interacted with other matter by creating a visible photon. However, signals from dark matter are incredibly weak. If scientists can make a particle detector more receptive to these signals, they can increase the likelihood of discovery and decrease the time to get there. One way to do this is to stimulate the emission of photons. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-quantum-techniques-photons-dark.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 01 Aug 2024 08:10:13 EDT news641718608 Researchers at the Ye Lab at JILA (the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado Boulder) and University of Delaware recently created a highly precise optical lattice clock based on trapped strontium atoms. Their clock, presented in a Physical Review Letters paper, exhibits a total systematic uncertainty of 8.1 x 10-19, which is the lowest uncertainty reported to date. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-optical-lattice-clock-based-strontium.html Quantum Physics Wed, 24 Jul 2024 06:50:02 EDT news640944957 The CubeCat-4 nanosatellite, developed by the UPC's NanoSat Lab, is one of seven payloads that have traveled on the Ariane 6 maiden flight, which took off on the night of 9 to 10 July from French Guiana. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-cubecat-nanosatellite-orbiting-earth.html Space Exploration Mon, 15 Jul 2024 15:47:35 EDT news640277253 UNSW quantum engineers have developed a new amplifier that could help other scientists search for elusive dark matter particles. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-world-comfort-dark-hunters.html General Physics Thu, 23 May 2024 10:56:52 EDT news635680607 Exploring wave propagation and localization in various media has been a core focus in optics and acoustics. Specifically, in photonics and phononics, scientists have been dedicated to understanding and controlling the behavior of light and sound waves in periodic media. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-breakthrough-unveiling-finite-barrier-bound.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 22 Mar 2024 11:24:46 EDT news630325482 In a new Nature study, Columbia Engineering researchers have built a photonic chip that is able to produce high-quality, ultra-low-noise microwave signals using only a single laser. The compact device—a chip so small, it could fit on a sharp pencil point—results in the lowest microwave noise ever observed in an integrated photonics platform. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-high-quality-microwave-generated-tiny.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:27:04 EDT news630167221 Gravitationally speaking, the universe is a noisy place. A hodgepodge of gravitational waves from unknown sources streams unpredictably around space, including possibly from the early universe. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-strong-gravitational-background.html Astronomy Thu, 29 Feb 2024 10:00:02 EST news628421431 Understanding how energy moves in materials is fundamental to the study of quantum phenomena, catalytic reactions, and complex proteins. Measuring how energy moves involves shining special X-ray light onto a sample to start a reaction. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-scientists-amplify-superconducting-sensor-array.html Superconductivity Mon, 23 Oct 2023 09:54:09 EDT news617273645 Research testing new technology to more effectively locate polar bear dens across the Arctic is showing promising results. Researchers from Simon Fraser University and Brigham Young University (BYU), collaborating with Polar Bears International, hope that improving detection tools to locate dens—which are nearly invisible and buried under snow—will help efforts to protect mother polar bears and their cubs. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-polar-aim-radar-technology.html Ecology Wed, 18 Oct 2023 14:20:04 EDT news616857602 As an ultra-wideband microwave signal, amplitude shift keying (ASK) can be used in many applications, such as electronic warfare, wireless communications and modern radar systems. Initially, ASK microwave signals are generated based on radio frequency analog mixing and direct digital synthesis, which limit the carrier frequency and coding bit rate of generated signals. Compared with the traditional microwave technology, microwave photonics technique can generate ASK microwave signals with high frequency and large bandwidth. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-sideband-modulation-technique-bandwidth-restriction.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 26 Sep 2023 07:42:17 EDT news614932934 Quantum computers can solve certain computational problems much faster than ordinary computers by using specific quantum properties. The basic building blocks of such machines are called quantum-bits or qubits. Qubits can be realized using several physical platforms such as nuclear spins, trapped ions, cold atoms, photons, and using superconducting Josephson circuits. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-scalable-user-friendly-platform-physicists-advanced.html Quantum Physics Wed, 13 Sep 2023 13:15:44 EDT news613829681 National University of Singapore (NUS) physicists have developed a method using a focused beam of helium ions to create arrays of defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) that can potentially be used for magnetic sensing applications. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-defects-hexagonal-boron-nitride-helium.html Nanophysics Fri, 21 Jul 2023 09:35:57 EDT news609150954 A new tool for generating microwave signals could help propel advances in wireless communication, imaging, atomic clocks, and more. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-microcomb-device-advances-photonic-technology.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Jun 2023 12:14:03 EDT news606568441 A group of researchers led by Andreas Wallraff, Professor of Solid State Physics at ETH Zurich, has performed a loophole-free Bell test to disprove the concept of "local causality" formulated by Albert Einstein in response to quantum mechanics. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-entangled-quantum-circuits-einstein-concept.html Superconductivity Wed, 10 May 2023 13:25:22 EDT news602943918 Researchers have developed a way to create photonic time crystals, and they have shown that these bizarre, artificial materials amplify the light that shines on them. These findings, described in a paper in Science Advances, could lead to more efficient and robust wireless communications and significantly improved lasers. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-photonic-crystal-boost.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 05 Apr 2023 14:00:03 EDT news599903944 Integrated photonics is making strides towards hosting an increasing range of functionalities on a chip. Examples include information processing and computation as well as optical sensing and ranging applications. This has spurred advances in integrated laser light sources, which are needed for photonic chips to become truly autonomous devices. Thus, on-chip isolation likewise becomes important for suppressing feedback detrimental to their operation. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-spatio-temporal-isolator-lithium-niobate-insulator.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 04 Apr 2023 09:36:04 EDT news599819762 Researchers at the University of Twente have developed a revolutionary programmable integrated microwave photonic filter with a record-breaking dynamic range. This represents a major breakthrough in the integration of functionality and performance in radio frequency photonic signal processors. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-photonic-chip-record-breaking-radio-frequency.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 22 Dec 2022 10:10:07 EST news590926202 Qubits are a basic building block for quantum computers, but they're also notoriously fragile—tricky to observe without erasing their information in the process. Now, new research from the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) could be a leap forward for handling qubits with a light touch. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-physicists-qubits-laser.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 15 Jun 2022 11:00:08 EDT news574494915 NASA is launching the first two of six small satellites no earlier than June 12, to study the formation and development of tropical cyclones almost every hour—about four to six times more often than is possible with current satellites. This is the first of three CubeSat launches for NASA's Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission. The remaining satellites will be placed into their orbits during two subsequent launches this year. If successful, the TROPICS satellites will be spread across three orbital planes to cover more of the globe more frequently. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-nasa-small-satellites-tropical-cyclones.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 09 Jun 2022 16:33:08 EDT news574011185 A team of researchers with members from Universit´e Paris-Saclay, the University of Ulm and the Institute of Quantum Technologies has developed an on-chip circuit that produces up to six microwave photons at the same time. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review X, the group describes how they built the device, how well it worked, and its possible use as a more efficient way to produce entangled particles. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-on-chip-circuit-microwave-photons.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 May 2022 08:48:55 EDT news571391330 A new publication in Opto-Electronic Advances overviews dynamic metasurfaces and metadevices empowered by graphene. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-dynamic-metasurfaces-metadevices-empowered-graphene.html Nanomaterials Thu, 05 May 2022 12:40:52 EDT news570973250 Researchers from the labs of Lan Yang, the Edwin H. & Florence G. Skinner Professor, and Xuan "Silvia" Zhang, associate professor, at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, have developed the first fully integrated parity-time symmetric electronic system. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-parity-time-symmetric-range-wavelengths.html Nanophysics Tue, 05 Apr 2022 16:42:44 EDT news568395758 The part of the atmosphere closest to the planet is the hardest to measure from space due to the volume of gases above it. Studying Earth's planetary boundary layer, or PBL, will enable scientists to better understand the interaction between Earth's surface and weather and how that evolves in a global, changing climate. https://phys.org/news/2022-02-nasa-technology-atmosphere.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 24 Feb 2022 09:27:03 EST news564917220