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 affiliated with UNIST has developed a novel method to synthesize polymer-based particles that mimic the stunning iridescence of opal gemstones. This innovative approach employs nanostructured, porous microparticles ...
Nanomaterials
Oct 22, 2025
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Researchers have harnessed nonlocal artificial materials to create optical systems that emulate parallel spaces, wormholes, and multiple realities. A single material acts as two distinct optical media or devices simultaneously, ...
General Physics
Oct 21, 2025
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Metasurfaces are two-dimensional (2D), nanoengineered surfaces that interact strongly with electromagnetic waves and can control light with remarkable precision. These ultra-thin layers can be used to develop a wide range ...
A deep blue organic light-emitting diode (OLED) developed by researchers at Science Tokyo operates on just a single 1.5 V, overcoming the high-voltage and color-purity problems that have long limited blue OLEDs. The breakthrough ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 14, 2025
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21
When optical materials (molecules or solid-state semiconductors) are embedded in tiny photonic boxes, known as optical microcavities, they form hybrid light-matter states known as polaritons. Most of the optical properties ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 9, 2025
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86
Cornell researchers have built a programmable optical chip that can change the color of light by merging photons, without requiring a new chip for new colors.
Optics & Photonics
Oct 8, 2025
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Ultrathin structures that can bend, focus, or filter light, metasurfaces are reshaping how scientists think about optics. These engineered materials offer precise control over lights behavior, but many conventional designs ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 6, 2025
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126
Researchers have designed and demonstrated stretchable waveguides that maintain efficient, stable signal transmission of surface plasmon polaritons even when bent, twisted or stretched. These plasmonic waveguides could make ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 6, 2025
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An instrument is set to improve the detection and direct imaging of planets outside our solar system by harnessing the power of liquid crystals. The Programmable Liquid-crystal Active Coronagraphic Imager for the DAG telescope ...
Astronomy
Oct 6, 2025
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21
From solar panels to next-generation medical devices, many emerging technologies rely on materials that can manipulate light with extreme precision. These materials—called plasmonic materials—are typically made from expensive ...
Nanophysics
Oct 3, 2025
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