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.
Compact, reflective, easy-to-manufacture mirrors are a critical component for advancing astronomical technology in space. Mirrors are a key component in most telescopes, though they are notoriously hard to manufacture with ...
Astronomy
Aug 19, 2025
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A new breakthrough in the field of physics led by doctoral student Yueming Yan could allow for the creation of small, thin, low-power optical devices to be used in both medical imaging and environmental sensing.
Nanophysics
Aug 8, 2025
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Half a billion years ago, nature evolved a remarkable trick: generating vibrant, shimmering colors via intricate, microscopic structures in feathers, wings and shells that reflect light in precise ways. Now, researchers from ...
Nanomaterials
Jul 30, 2025
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As the demand for more secure data transmission increases, conventional communication technologies are facing limitations imposed by classical physics, and are therefore approaching their limits in terms of security. Fortunately, ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 28, 2025
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Refraction—the bending of light as it passes through different media—has long been constrained by physical laws that prevent independent control over how light waves along different directions bend. Now, UCLA researchers ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 28, 2025
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In the race toward practical quantum computers and networks, photons—fundamental particles of light—hold intriguing possibilities as fast carriers of information at room temperature.
Quantum Physics
Jul 24, 2025
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A new material platform has enabled scientists to create photon pairs whose entanglement can be tuned from a layer thinner than a human hair.
Quantum Physics
Jul 18, 2025
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248
In the race to develop faster and more flexible wireless communication technologies, researchers are turning to an unexpected source: the same organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) found in smartphone screens and TVs.
Optics & Photonics
Jul 18, 2025
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61
By leveraging the concept of chirality, or the difference of a shape from its mirror image, EPFL scientists have engineered an optical metasurface that controls light to yield a simple and versatile technique for secure encryption, ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 16, 2025
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Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) School of Engineering have cracked a major challenge in display technology by inventing the world's brightest and most energy efficient quantum rod ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 15, 2025
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