Optical techniques are experimental and analytical methods that exploit the generation, manipulation, and detection of electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared ranges to probe material properties, structures, and dynamics. They encompass approaches such as absorption, fluorescence, Raman and elastic scattering measurements, interferometry, and imaging modalities that rely on well-defined light–matter interactions. These techniques enable quantitative characterization of refractive indices, absorption coefficients, energy level structures, molecular conformations, and nanoscale morphology, often with high spatial and temporal resolution. Optical techniques are widely integrated with spectroscopy, microscopy, and metrology platforms and can be implemented in both far-field and near-field configurations.
It's one thing to design a pharmaceutical drug. It's another to know if and why it actually works; not on paper or in a computer model, but inside the chaotic world of living systems, where proteins twist into shape, atoms ...
Quantum Physics
Jun 25, 2026
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42
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
A 100-year-old equation and a fiber-optic cable off the coast of Svalbard led researchers to discover they could detect swimming whales—even if they were completely silent. The discovery broadens the tools biologists could ...
Ecology
Jun 24, 2026
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15
From detecting the ripples of colliding black holes to imaging individual chemical bonds, mechanical transducers have repeatedly transformed our understanding of the universe. So far, however, the sensitivity of these devices ...
A new optical technique developed by researchers at the University of St Andrews and Adelaide University allows toxic methanol in alcoholic spirits to be detected without opening the bottle. Published in the Journal of Physics: ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 23, 2026
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Medications can save lives, yet for some drugs, the concentration in a patient's bloodstream determines whether a treatment is effective or whether harmful side effects may occur. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 23, 2026
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4
Researchers have developed a chip-based metasurface biosensor that can detect traumatic brain injury (TBI) biomarkers at extremely low levels. With further development, the technology could one day help doctors make a faster ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 23, 2026
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4
In the development of diseases such as muscular dystrophy, cancer, Ebola and dengue, numerous chemical reactions take place within and between cells that contribute to disease progression. These changes can occur in less ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 22, 2026
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11
Nanorobots have shown great promise in precision medicine over the past few decades. Yet one key challenge remains: how to track and guide these tiny devices in real time as they move through complex physiological environments. ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 20, 2026
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13
Superfluids are intriguing states of matter in which particles behave like a giant collective wave, allowing them to flow without any friction. When this fluid flows past a fixed obstacle at a velocity below a specific threshold, ...
