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.
The bandgap, i.e. the energy gap between the highest lying valence and the lowest lying conduction band, is a defining property of insulating solids, governing how they absorb light and conduct electricity. Tracking how a ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 9, 2025
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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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121
An international team of researchers has developed a novel technique to efficiently excite and control highly-confined light-matter waves, known as higher-order hyperbolic phonon polaritons. Their method not only sets new ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 7, 2025
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Researchers from the University of Arizona, working with an international team, have captured and controlled quantum uncertainty in real time using ultrafast pulses of light. Their discovery, published in the journal Light: ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 6, 2025
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435
In the era of instant data exchange and growing risks of cyberattacks, scientists are seeking secure methods of transmitting information. One promising solution is quantum cryptography—a quantum technology that uses single ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 2, 2025
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113
A small yet innovative experiment is taking place at CERN. Its goal is to test how the CERN-born optical timing signal—normally used in the Laboratory's accelerators to synchronize devices with ultra-high precision—can best ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 2, 2025
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106
A research team in Kiel has demonstrated a previously unknown effect in graphene—a single layer of carbon atoms whose discovery earned the 2010 Nobel Prize. For years, graphene has been seen as a promising material for nanoelectronics, ...
Nanophysics
Oct 1, 2025
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Optical clocks are highly precise timekeeping devices that measure time by tracking the oscillations of light, as opposed to microwaves, like conventional atomic clocks. The accuracy of these clocks heavily depends on the ...
Programmable photonics devices, which use light to perform complex computations, are emerging as a key area in integrated photonics research. Unlike conventional electronics that transmit signals with electrons, these systems ...
Optics & Photonics
Sep 30, 2025
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76
In a recent Nature study, scientists have demonstrated an electrically driven perovskite laser using a dual-cavity design, addressing a challenge that has persisted in the field for over a decade.
