Interferometry is a measurement technique that exploits the superposition of coherent waves, typically electromagnetic or matter waves, to extract precise information from the resulting interference pattern. By splitting a wavefront into multiple paths that traverse different optical or physical conditions and then recombining them, interferometry enables highly sensitive determination of path length differences, refractive index variations, surface topography, displacements, and phase shifts. It underpins applications such as optical metrology, gravitational wave detection, astronomical aperture synthesis, and coherence characterization, with performance determined by factors including coherence length, phase stability, wavelength, and environmental noise control.
For nearly 80 years, physicists have relied on a thought experiment created by Richard Feynman to predict how quantum particles behave. For the first time, researchers in China have tested this trick directly in the lab.
Physicists at the University of Twente have improved the standard test for the quality of individual particles of light. By letting three photons interfere at the same time instead of two, they draw more information from ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 17, 2026
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There's a nice kind of irony buried in this story: One of the most sensitive instruments ever built, capable of measuring distortions smaller than the width of a proton, has been quietly held back by something as mundane ...
Astronomy
Jul 30, 2026
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Scientists at the University of California, Riverside, have developed a new way to help gravitational-wave observatories see farther into the universe by solving one of their biggest challenges: tiny heat-induced distortions ...
Astronomy
Jul 21, 2026
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104
We've talked plenty of times here about the infeasibility of launching a mirror big enough to directly image exoplanets using current rocket fairings—at least as long as we're not sending them 500-plus AU away to a gravitational ...
Astronomy
Jul 9, 2026
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22
In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have demonstrated the Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) effect with up to 12 indistinguishable neutral atoms—an effect that has been predominantly observed in photonic systems.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and GlitterinTech, a startup founded by the same research group, have unveiled a fundamentally new type of optical spectrometer that delivers laboratory-grade precision in a device ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 8, 2026
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Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in spacetime. Their first direct detection in 2015 marked a revolutionary moment in astronomy. Today, we have a thorough understanding of signals that travel far from their sources through ...
General Physics
Jun 4, 2026
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62
Spectroscopy has many applications, ranging from fundamental tests of quantum electrodynamics and investigations of molecular structure to environmental sensing, biomedical diagnostics and industrial monitoring. A highly ...
Optics & Photonics
May 26, 2026
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31
Gravitational wave researchers working on the world's most sensitive scientific instruments have found a way to tune their detectors using a process akin to the pitch-correction used in music production.
Astronomy
May 12, 2026
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