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.
Access to clean water depends not only on preventing pollution but also on being able to detect contaminants quickly and reliably. Among the pollutants of concern are metal ions such as mercury, lead and zinc, which can enter ...
Nanomaterials
9 hours ago
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An eye surgeon with a passion for space since childhood predicts that as astronauts start to make journeys to the moon and Mars in the near future, eye surgery in space will eventually become a necessity.
Space Exploration
Sep 13, 2026
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57
Metallic nanostructures are exceptionally effective at concentrating light into tiny volumes, while dielectric nanostructures excel at storing light with minimal energy loss. Combining these complementary properties has traditionally ...
Nanophysics
Sep 11, 2026
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Researchers have demonstrated that a naturally occurring mineral can serve as a low-loss optical material for next-generation broadband all–van der Waals nanophotonic components.
Nanophysics
Sep 10, 2026
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Tiny manufacturing imperfections in optical components normally go unnoticed. Yet they can alter light in surprisingly significant ways. An international research team led by TU Darmstadt has shown that such imperfections ...
Optics & Photonics
Sep 10, 2026
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Augmented reality (AR) glasses, lenses thinner than a human hair, and holograms floating above your fingertips may sound like technologies from science fiction. At the heart of these emerging technologies, however, lies a ...
Nanophysics
Sep 4, 2026
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Researchers use tightly focused laser beams to image biological samples, shape materials with microscopic precision and generate displays. But using those beams in three dimensions requires more than sweeping light from side ...
Bio & Medicine
Aug 31, 2026
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Researchers from Skoltech and their colleagues from Harbin Institute of Technology in China and ITMO University in Russia have devised a way to deposit elaborate geometric patterns of carbon nanotubes without wasting material. ...
Nanophysics
Aug 25, 2026
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A research team from Singapore, led by Associate Professor Dawn Tan of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Dr. Luo Xianshu, head of the Silicon Photonics Department at the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 24, 2026
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A research team at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) has developed a new optical corner-detection imaging method that uses azimuthal Hilbert transform metasurfaces and is designed to work as a universal framework. The ...
General Physics
Aug 24, 2026
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