Optical materials and elements, considered as a physical system, comprise engineered media and components that manipulate electromagnetic radiation in the optical frequency range through controlled refraction, reflection, diffraction, absorption, and emission. This system includes bulk and nanostructured dielectrics, semiconductors, and metals configured as lenses, mirrors, prisms, gratings, filters, waveplates, and coatings, characterized by parameters such as complex refractive index, dispersion, nonlinear susceptibilities, and anisotropy. Their collective behavior determines wavefront shaping, spectral and polarization control, and spatiotemporal light propagation, underpinning the performance of optical assemblies in imaging, beam delivery, photonic integration, and laser systems.
Achieving the blackest of blacks has been one of humanity's enduring challenges. It is a frontier that unites modern nanotechnologists with nature's ancient color palette.
Nanomaterials
11 hours ago
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5
The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) has developed a room-temperature single-photon source built into a compact 19-inch rack-mounted device that operates without cryogenic cooling. Designed as a plug-and-play ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 3, 2026
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43
The transmission of optical information through random scattering media is a major challenge in optics, biomedical imaging, telecommunications and remote sensing. When light passes through a turbid or diffusive medium, such ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 2, 2026
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Two-dimensional (2D) perovskites are increasingly recognized as promising candidate materials for the next generation of optoelectronic devices. These materials combine key characteristics of both 2D semiconductors and three-dimensional ...
Nanophysics
Jul 2, 2026
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6
When a high-intensity laser interacts with plasma, the charged particles typically oscillate back and forth like waves on the ocean. But what if the laser itself could twist like a whirlpool? Researchers have now demonstrated ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 29, 2026
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152
An international research team has demonstrated that the intrinsic disorder of the compound semiconductor CuInSnS₄ can be exploited to influence its optical properties. While the atomic vibrations also sense the local disorder, ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 29, 2026
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A research team has developed a methodology to precisely design and control the "degree of disorder" in nanopattern arrays using metal-infiltrated block copolymer (BCP) thin films. The work was led by Professor So Youn Kim ...
Nanophysics
Jun 28, 2026
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Nonlinear optical materials are essential for advanced photonics and laser technologies, but researchers are still searching for ways to optimize organic, carbon-based alternatives. Using computational modeling, scientists ...
Nanophysics
Jun 27, 2026
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Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are tiny carbon-based nanomaterials that have attracted increasing attention as environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional heavy-metal quantum dots. They are lightweight, photostable ...
Nanophysics
Jun 26, 2026
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6
Almost every material expands when heated. Well-known examples include railroad tracks and concrete roadways, which feature visible expansion gaps to accommodate this effect. However, thermal expansion poses a far more acute ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 26, 2026
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