News tagged with optical systems

Trade-off coding for quantum communication provides more benefits than previously thought

(Phys.org) -- In optical communication systems, the overall performance depends on the strategy used to transmit photons from one location to another. In previous attempts to optimize this performance, scientists ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Apr 16, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Nanowire lens can reconfigure its imaging properties

(PhysOrg.com) -- By taking advantage of the unique optical properties of nanoscale materials, researchers have designed a lens made of nanowires that can reconfigure its imaging properties without any electronic ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 11, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast feature

Vertical cavity quantum switch could lead us away from electronics-based computing

(PhysOrg.com) -- Right now, many researchers around the world are working on ways to move away from electronics-dominated computing systems. There are a number of ideas about how this can be accomplished. "We are trying to ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Jun 30, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (27) | comments 5 | with audio podcast feature

Physicists describe how to make time-reversed light pulses

(PhysOrg.com) -- By taking advantage of the properties of periodic systems, physicists have described how to efficiently time-reverse ultrashort electromagnetic pulses. Since a time-reversed pulse evolves ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 31, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (17) | comments 44 | with audio podcast feature

Artificial magnetic fields for light could illuminate correlated quantum systems

(PhysOrg.com) -- In general, the field of many-body physics involves the interactions and collective behavior of large numbers of particles. Scientists have made significant progress in exploring this field, ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Feb 03, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (19) | comments 1 | with audio podcast feature

Researchers present a shiny new tool for imaging biomolecules

At the heart of the immune system that protects our bodies from disease and foreign invaders is a vast and complex communications network involving millions of cells, sending and receiving chemical signals ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Trillion-frame-per-second video

By using optical equipment in a totally unexpected way, MIT researchers have created an imaging system that makes light look slow.

Technology / Engineering

created Dec 13, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (41) | comments 30 | with audio podcast

Using nanophotonics to reshape on-chip computer data transmission

A team at Stanford's School of Engineering has demonstrated an ultrafast nanoscale light emitting diode (LED) that is orders of magnitude lower in power consumption than today's laser-based systems and able ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Nov 15, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (11) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

The quantum computer is growing up: Repetitive error correction in a quantum processor

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of physicists at the University of Innsbruck, led by Philipp Schindler and Rainer Blatt, has been the first to demonstrate a crucial element for a future functioning quantum computer: ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created May 26, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (27) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Light on silicon better than copper?

Step aside copper and make way for a better carrier of information -- light.

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Oct 21, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Light workout: Scientists use optogenetics to effectively stimulate muscle movement in mice

Researchers at Stanford University were able to use light to induce normal patterns of muscle contraction, in a study involving bioengineered mice whose nerve-cell surfaces are coated with special light-sensitive proteins.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Sep 26, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Ultra-powerful Laser Makes Silicon Pump Liquid Uphill with No Added Energy

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics have discovered a way to make liquid flow vertically upward along a silicon surface, overcoming the pull of gravity, without pumps or other ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Mar 16, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (9) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Using quantum smoothing for optical phase estimation

(PhysOrg.com) -- "There are many situations where we need to measure the classical properties of a quantum system," Elanor Huntington tells PhysOrg.com. "Optical phase estimation is one of these techniques, and it is cen ...

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Mar 11, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 0 | with audio podcast feature

Study explains why light worsens migraine headaches

Ask anyone who suffers from migraine headaches what they do when they're having an attack, and you're likely to hear "go into a dark room." And although it's long been known that light makes migraines worse, the reason why ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jan 10, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (11) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

A New Method of Estimating Stellar Distances

(PhysOrg.com) -- The star Chi Cygni is located about 550 light-years away, in the direction of the constellation of Cygnus the Swan. It is a notable star because, unlike the sun which still burns hydrogen ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (15) | comments 2