News tagged with optical frequency

Atomic clock comparison via data highways

(Phys.org) -- Optical atomic clocks measure time with unprecedented accuracy. However, it is the ability to compare clocks with one another that makes them applicable for high-precision tests in fundamental ...

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 27, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 3 | with audio podcast

The tick-tock of the optical clock

(PhysOrg.com) -- UK's National Physical Laboratory time scientists have made an accurate measurement of the highly forbidden octupole transition frequency in an ytterbium ion, which could be used as the basis ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (10) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Physicists mix two lasers to create light at many frequencies

A team of physicists at UC Santa Barbara has seen the light, and it comes in many different colors. By aiming high- and low-frequency laser beams at a semiconductor, the researchers caused electrons to be ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Mar 28, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (14) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Team generates frequency comb with more than 100 terahertz bandwidth

Many of the communication tools of today rely on the function of light or, more specifically, on applying information to a light wave. Up until now, studies on electronic and optical devices with materials that are the foundations ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Mar 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Scientists create first free-standing 3-D cloak

Researchers in the US have, for the first time, cloaked a three-dimensional object standing in free space, bringing the much-talked-about invisibility cloak one step closer to reality.

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

UN sets stage for blazing fast new mobile devices

(AP) -- A United Nations telecom meeting has approved the next generation of mobile technology, which experts say will make devices 500 times faster than 3G smartphones and eliminate the wait time between the tap of a finger ...

Technology / Telecom

created Jan 19, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 1

NPL research helps drive forward the creation of a Digital Britain

With government plans for a Digital Britain firmly underway, the amount of data that will be sent on the internet is set to increase dramatically.

Technology / Engineering

created Jan 04, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers adapt classic antennas to harness more power from the sun

Some solar devices, like calculators, only need a small panel of solar cells to function. But supplying enough power to meet all our daily needs would require enormous solar panels. And solar-powered energy collected by panels ...

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 10, 2011 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New metamaterial allows transmission gain while retaining negative refraction property

A new type of active metamaterial that incorporates semiconductor devices into conventional metamaterial structures is demonstrating an ability to have power gain while retaining its negative refraction property, a first ...

Physics / Condensed Matter

created Nov 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Seeing sound: Team develops noninvasive method to visualise sound propagation

High-performance loudspeaker manufacturers have been able to improve sound quality dramatically over the years, but still face the issue of dead spots.

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 08, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New light at the end of the tunnel

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of scientists successfully concentrated the energy of infrared laser pulses using a nano funnel enabling them to generate extreme ultraviolet light pulses, which repeated ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Oct 17, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

An octave spanning chip-based optical ruler

More than a decade ago, the frequency comb technique was developed at the Max Planck In-stitute of Quantum Optics by Professor Theodor W. Hänsch. The new tool has stimulated fun-damental research as well ...

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 08, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

A quiet phase: NIST optical tools produce ultra-low-noise microwave signals

By combining advanced laser technologies in a new way, physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have generated microwave signals that are more pure and stable than those from ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Jun 27, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Invisibility carpet cloak can hide objects from visible light

(PhysOrg.com) -- Most of the invisibility cloaks that have been demonstrated to date conceal objects at frequencies that are not detectable by the human eye. Designing invisibility cloaks that can conceal ...

Physics / General Physics

created Jun 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (20) | comments 22 | with audio podcast feature

Moth eyes inspire antireflective surfaces for military applications

(PhysOrg.com) -- If you look closely at the surface of a moth's cornea, you see that it is comprised of tiny protruding bumps. These bumps exist to keep moths safe from predators by preventing light from reflecting ...

Technology / Engineering

created Mar 08, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast