The physical properties of the ultra-white scales on certain species of beetle could be used to make whiter paper, plastics and paints, while using far less material than is used in current manufacturing methods.
Condensed Matter
Aug 15, 2014
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(Phys.org) —Scientists have used selective breeding to create purple wings on the normally brown-winged butterfly Bicyclus anynana. Antonia Monteiro and her colleagues selected butterflies with wing scales that reflected ...
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that an array of novel gold, pillar-bowtie nanoantennas (pBNAs) can be used like traditional photographic film to record light for distances ...
Nanophysics
Jul 17, 2014
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As we all know, some optical devices can only work with a certain incident polarization direction. In this case, a polarizer is necessary to shift the polarization direction of linearly polarized light. A common polarizer ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 17, 2014
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A new study shows that light transmitted through apertures smaller than the wavelength of light go through a radical change, splitting into two symmetrical counter-rotating polarisations.
Optics & Photonics
Jun 20, 2014
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Rice University scientists have created a one-step process for producing highly efficient materials that let the maximum amount of sunlight reach a solar cell.
Nanophysics
Jun 19, 2014
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Microscopes are conventionally used to image tiny features. However, their resolution is inherently limited by the wavelength of light. This limitation means that they can resolve only structures larger than a few hundred ...
Nanophysics
Jun 18, 2014
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Flexible, layered materials textured with nanoscale wrinkles could provide a new way of controlling the wavelengths and distribution of waves, whether of sound or light. The new method, developed by researchers at MIT, could ...
Condensed Matter
Jan 23, 2014
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A new approach to harvesting solar energy, developed by MIT researchers, could improve efficiency by using sunlight to heat a high-temperature material whose infrared radiation would then be collected by a conventional photovoltaic ...
Nanophysics
Jan 19, 2014
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Applications in imaging and sensing typically involve the emission of light at a different wavelength than the excitation, or "secondary light emission." The interpretation of resonant secondary light emission in terms of ...
Nanophysics
Jan 13, 2014
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