News tagged with light intensity

A new generation of acoustic measurements

NPL scientists have made the first measurements of airborne acoustic free-field pressures using a laser technique based on photon correlation spectroscopy.

Physics / General Physics

created May 29, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A magnetic approach to lattices

(Phys.org) -- JQI experimentalists under the direction of Ian Spielman are in the business of using lasers to create novel environments for neutral atoms. For instance, this research group previously enticed ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists move objects across meter-scale distances using only light (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- For more than 40 years, scientists have been using the radiation pressure of light to move and manipulate small objects in space. But until now, the movements have always been restricted to ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 30, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (36) | comments 10 | with audio podcast feature

Cantilever bends repeatedly under light exposure for continuous energy generation

(PhysOrg.com) -- With the goal to enable small electronic devices to harvest their own energy, researchers have designed a device that can convert light and thermal energy into electricity. When exposed to ...

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 05, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (20) | comments 10 | with audio podcast feature

Extraordinary light enhancement technique proposed for nanophotonic devices

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a new study, scientists have shown that simply tailoring the nanoscale geometrical parameters of dielectric structures can result in an increase in the light intensity to unprecedented levels. Theoretically, ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Nov 03, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (13) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Chandra finds nearest pair of supermassive black holes

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to discover the first pair of supermassive black holes in a spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way. At a distance of 160 million light ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Aug 31, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Nano antenna concentrates light: Intensity increases 1,000-fold

(PhysOrg.com) -- Everybody who's ever used a TV, radio or cell phone knows what an antenna does: It captures the aerial signals that make those devices practical. A lab at Rice University has built an antenna ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Sep 20, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (21) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover mechanism that helps humans see in bright and low light

Ever wonder how your eyes adjust during a blackout? When we go from light to near total darkness, cells in the retina must quickly adjust. Vision scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 0

Suspects in the quenching of star formation exonerated

Supermassive black holes millions to billions times the mass of our Sun lie at the heart of most, maybe all large galaxies. Some of these power brilliantly luminous, rapidly growing objects called active galactic nuclei that ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 11, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Fruit fly larvae detect light via body's network of photoreceptors

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research in the U.S. has discovered that fruit fly larvae have a series of photoreceptors covering the body that can detect light even when their primitive "eyes" are covered or removed.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 12, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Study says nocturnal ants have evolved night vision

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers studying the eyes of different Australian bull ants have found the first evidence of adaptation of visual structures within a single species to distinct light intensities.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 06, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Tying the knot with computer-generated holograms: Winding optical path moves matter

In the latest twist on optical knots, New York University physicists have discovered a new method to create extended and knotted optical traps in three dimensions. This method, which the NYU scientists describe ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Mar 15, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Even the midnight sun won't convince bees to work nights

Bees observe a strict working day, even in conditions of 24-hour sunlight. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology tagged worker bumblebees with a radio identifier, similar to an Oyster ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 28, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Detecting clouds from both sides now

Researchers have developed a more precise method to detect the boundary between clouds and clear air, by exploiting the swinging motions of a weather balloon and its payload.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 13, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The Tarantula glows with X-rays and infrared light

(PhysOrg.com) -- This spiderweb-like tangle of gas and dust is a star-forming region called 30 Doradus. It is one of the largest such regions located close to the Milky Way galaxy, and is found in the neighboring ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 11, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 4