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.
Scientists have demonstrated a noninvasive technique that uses light to reveal the hidden contents of chicken eggs, potentially helping to curb the meat industry's practice of killing billions of male chicks at birth. The ...
Biotechnology
Jun 19, 2026
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25
Finding life beyond our solar system is a major goal of modern astronomy. NASA's planned Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) aims to take direct images of Earth-sized planets around stars other than our sun. This task, however, ...
Astronomy
Jun 18, 2026
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17
By teaching an AI to use optical tweezers, researchers from the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology have sped up the analysis of life's smallest components. The AI platform captures particles, takes ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 18, 2026
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22
A research team in Bochum, Germany has unexpectedly found that light can slow down movements in the nanoworld. This is due to quantum friction, a phenomenon that has been poorly understood until now. The findings are published ...
Nanophysics
Jun 11, 2026
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42
A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Surface Topography: Metrology and Properties introduces a pioneering, noninvasive technique that can distinguish authentic artworks from forgeries, offering museums, collectors, ...
General Physics
Jun 11, 2026
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Modern fluorescence microscopy can generate images of living cells as stunning to look at as they are informative to study. For techniques like fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), those images provide a window ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 10, 2026
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7
Aeron Tynes Hammack, a physicist by training and currently interim facility director of the Nanofabrication Facility at the Molecular Foundry, likes to work with nanoscale objects to better understand the world and solve ...
Bio & Medicine
Jun 9, 2026
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11
Recent years have witnessed great advances in applying deep learning to improve fluorescence microscopy imaging. However, enhancing the fidelity of image restoration networks and improving their robustness under fluorescence ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 9, 2026
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11
Nature is filled with remarkable visual phenomena created by microscopic surface structures that interact with light in fascinating ways. The iridescent wings of butterflies, the shimmering feathers of birds and the glossy ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 9, 2026
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13
Researchers at Kanazawa University, in collaboration with Diamond and Carbon Applications (Germany), have developed a buried-growth process for nitrogen–vacancy (NV) centers in diamond using microwave plasma chemical vapor ...
Plasma Physics
Jun 9, 2026
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