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.
In the realm of lighting and temperature measurement, advancements in material science are paving the way for significant improvements in technology and safety. Traditional methods, which combine yellow phosphors with blue ...
Optics & Photonics
Sep 13, 2024
0
101
Photonic crystals are materials with repeating internal structures that interact with light in unique ways. We can find natural examples in opals and the vibrant colored shells of some insects. Even though these crystals ...
Nanophysics
Sep 12, 2024
1
227
Imagine manipulating light with ultra-thin, flat sheets instead of bulky lenses and mirrors. That's the promise of metasurfaces, a nanostructure technology that can twist and bend light in ways never before possible.
Nanophysics
Sep 4, 2024
0
131
Diamond is in many ways the ultimate material. Besides its enduring aesthetic value, diamond is also a highly versatile industrial material. While its claim as the hardest substance known to science has been usurped by ultra-rare ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 4, 2024
0
127
The fine and efficient control of the properties of light at ultrafast speed down to the picosecond timescale is a challenging task, crucial for many scientific applications and technologies. For instance, in free-space optical ...
Optics & Photonics
Sep 3, 2024
0
70
Holographic optical elements (HOEs) are essential in augmented reality (AR) displays, providing benefits such as design flexibility and improved optical efficiency. However, current materials' limited refractive index modulation ...
Nanomaterials
Sep 3, 2024
0
82
To build light-based quantum technologies, scientists and engineers need the ability to generate and manipulate photons as individuals or a few at a time. To build such quantum photonic logic gates that might be used in an ...
In a collaboration between scientists from Physics and Chemistry at the University of Bayreuth and Physical Chemistry at the University of Melbourne, it has now been possible to realize optically switchable photonic units ...
Optics & Photonics
Sep 2, 2024
0
127
A perfect combination of fiber optics and micro/nanotechnology, optical micro/nanofiber (MNF) is a new type of micro/nano-waveguide structure developed in recent years.
Nanophysics
Aug 30, 2024
0
108
An article in Opto-Electronic Advances, discusses complete-basis-reprogrammable coding metasurface for generating dynamically-controlled holograms under arbitrary polarization states.
Optics & Photonics
Aug 30, 2024
0
72
