Optics & lasers as a research area encompasses the fundamental and applied study of the generation, propagation, manipulation, and detection of light, with a particular emphasis on coherent and monochromatic radiation from lasers. It includes laser physics (gain media, optical cavities, nonlinear and quantum optical effects), beam shaping and guiding (waveguides, fibers, integrated photonics), optical materials and devices (mirrors, modulators, detectors), and advanced techniques such as ultrafast optics, high-power and high-intensity laser systems, laser spectroscopy, and laser-based metrology. This field underpins technologies in precision measurement, optical communication, imaging, microfabrication, and control of matter with light.
Few concepts in physics are as familiar, yet as enigmatic, as time. In Einstein's theory of relativity, time is not absolute: its passage depends on motion and gravity. But when combined with quantum physics, this relativistic ...
General Physics
Apr 20, 2026
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Two independent research teams have each demonstrated collisional quantum gates using fermionic atoms: a long-sought milestone in quantum computing where logic operations are performed through the direct physical overlap ...
Light does more than illuminate the world—it can also push and twist matter. It was back in the 1870s that James Clerk Maxwell first predicted that light carries momentum and can exert pressure on objects. Nearly a century ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 20, 2026
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Have you ever wished to drive microscopic matter along an arbitrarily tailored trajectory instead of just a circle? That's exactly what we set out to achieve.
Originally deployed to record re-entry signals of the OSIRIS-REx return capsule, a T-shaped fiber optic cable draped across the ground at a Nevada airfield also captured unique aspects of a Cessna 172's speed and maneuvering.
Earth Sciences
Apr 17, 2026
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A new Bar-Ilan University study points to a major advance in quantum information processing, demonstrating a way to send, manipulate, and measure quantum information across many frequency channels simultaneously, rather than ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 16, 2026
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Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have developed a new approach to secure optical communication that hides information in the physical structure of light, making it difficult for unauthorized parties to intercept ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 15, 2026
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Researchers at The University of Osaka, in collaboration with ULVAC, Inc. and Ritsumeikan University, have developed a new LED structure that generates circularly polarized light from a single chip. By combining a semipolar ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 15, 2026
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Computer chips that cram billions of electronic devices into a few square inches have powered the digital economy and transformed the world. Scientists may be on the cusp of launching a similar technological revolution—this ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 15, 2026
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Most clocks, from wristwatches to the systems that run GPS and the internet, work by tracking regular, repeating motions.
Quantum Physics
Apr 14, 2026
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