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.
Concentrating light in a volume as small as the wavelength itself is a challenge that is crucial for numerous applications. Researchers from AMOLF, TU Delft, and Cornell University in the U.S. have demonstrated a new way ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 18, 2025
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182
A team of Rice University researchers has developed a new way to control light interactions using a specially engineered structure called a 3D photonic-crystal cavity. Their work, published in the journal Nature Communications, ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 17, 2025
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267
Imagine tiny LEGO pieces that automatically snap together to form a strong, flat sheet. Then, scientists add special chemical "hooks" to these sheets to attach glowing molecules called fluorophores.
Nanomaterials
Apr 16, 2025
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6
Self-assembly or self-organization in molecular science refers to the phenomena where molecules spontaneously gather and form ordered structures, a unique property of materials used to develop optical and electronic materials.
Nanomaterials
Apr 11, 2025
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48
A research team has successfully observed and identified the water-induced degradation mechanism of perovskite, which is a next-generation optoelectronic material, in real time at the atomic scale. Published in Matter, this ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 9, 2025
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Rapidly increasing data traffic is placing ever greater demands on the capacity of communication systems. In an article titled "Ultra-broadband optical amplification using nonlinear integrated waveguides" published in Nature, ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 9, 2025
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6
Twisted moiré photonic crystals—an advanced type of optical metamaterial—have shown enormous potential in the race to engineer smaller, more capable and more powerful optical systems. How do they work?
Optics & Photonics
Apr 3, 2025
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2
Almost a decade ago, Harvard engineers unveiled the world's first visible-spectrum metasurfaces—ultra-thin, flat devices patterned with nanoscale structures that could precisely control the behavior of light. A powerful ...
Nanophysics
Apr 1, 2025
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32
Conventional curved lenses, which direct light by refraction in glass or plastic, are often bulky and heavy, offering only limited control of light waves. Metasurfaces, in contrast, are flat and consist of an array of tiny ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 28, 2025
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26
Photonic circuits, which manipulate light to perform various computational tasks, have become essential tools for a range of advanced technologies—from quantum simulations to artificial intelligence. These circuits offer ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 27, 2025
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