(PhysOrg.com) -- The heart of the Internet is a network of high-capacity optical fibers that spans continents. But while optical signals transmit information much more efficiently than electrical signals, they?re harder to ...
Computer Sciences
Jun 28, 2010
16
0
In 2015, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) developed the first on-chip metamaterial with a refractive index of zero, meaning that the phase of light could be stretched ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 9, 2017
8
2664
A thorough understanding of galaxy evolution depends in part on an accurate measurement of the abundance of metals in the intergalactic medium—the space between stars—but dust can impede observations in optical wavelengths. ...
Astronomy
Jun 1, 2022
1
818
Using nanometer-scale components, researchers have demonstrated the first optical rectenna, a device that combines the functions of an antenna and a rectifier diode to convert light directly into DC current.
Nanophysics
Sep 28, 2015
10
11274
(PhysOrg.com) -- The best performing solar cells are those that are thick enough to absorb light from the entire solar spectrum, while the cheapest solar cells are thin ones, since they require less, and potentially cheaper, ...
Imagine walking into an airport or grocery store and your smartphone automatically starts charging. This could be a reality one day, thanks to a new wireless laser charging system that overcomes some of the challenges that ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 30, 2022
10
335
Most lenses are, by definition, curved. After all, they are named for their resemblance to lentils, and a glass lens made flat is just a window with no special powers. But a new type of lens created at the Harvard School ...
Optics & Photonics
Feb 19, 2015
2
2901
Over the past several decades, researchers have moved from using electric currents to manipulating light waves in the near-infrared range for telecommunications applications such as high-speed 5G networks, biosensors on a ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 22, 2021
0
174
It's no secret that planet Earth is occasionally greeted by rocks from space that either explode in the atmosphere or impact on the surface. In addition, Earth regularly experiences meteor showers whenever it passes through ...
Astronomy
Feb 19, 2020
6
572
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers in Korea has discovered a way to allow sound to pass through walls almost as if they were not there at all. As the group describes in their paper published in the journal Physical Review ...
