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.
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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38
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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46
Chiral 2D metal halide perovskites (MHPs) are among the most promising materials for future technologies that exploit the spin of electrons in spin-based optoelectronics, or spintronics, but getting them to perform consistently ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 25, 2026
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11
Scientists have developed a new type of "virtual" metasurface—capable of controlling light in ways traditional lenses and optics can't—which they say is superior to the current approach, which relies on ultrathin engineered ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 25, 2026
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76
Plants convert light into energy efficiently through photosynthesis—an ability that scientists and engineers still struggle to match with electronic devices. Recently, researchers have looked beyond traditional semiconductor ...
Nanophysics
Jun 25, 2026
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33
A research team from Tohoku University and Kyocera Corp. has developed a new magneto-optical material—a nanocomposite magnetic garnet film—that can be deposited directly onto silicon substrates while delivering a magneto-optical ...
Nanophysics
Jun 16, 2026
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27
If we're to reach another star, chemical propulsion will not get us there in any reasonable time frame. We're going to need a different propulsion technology, and one of the most promising seems to be a solar sail. These ...
Space Exploration
Jun 14, 2026
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116
Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and CNSI (California NanoSystems Institute), led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan, introduced a snapshot 3D image projection system that integrates a digital encoder with a ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 14, 2026
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