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 simulation of quantum systems and the development of systems that can perform computations leveraging quantum mechanical effects rely on the ability to arrange atoms in specific patterns with high levels of precision. ...
A team of researchers has discovered how a little-known type of symmetry in quantum materials, called nonsymmorphic symmetry, governs the way these materials interact with intense laser light.
Condensed Matter
Aug 21, 2025
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Holography—the science of recording and reconstructing light fields—has long been central to imaging, data storage, and encryption. Traditional holographic systems, however, rely on bulky optical setups and interference experiments, ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 21, 2025
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A study conducted by researchers from the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has demonstrated how nitrogen vacancies (VN) resolve asymmetric carrier injection ...
Condensed Matter
Aug 21, 2025
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118
For years, engineers have sought better ways to build tiny, efficient lasers that can be integrated directly onto silicon chips, a key step toward faster, more capable optical communications and computing.
Optics & Photonics
Aug 20, 2025
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Optical frequency combs are specially designed lasers that act like rulers to accurately and rapidly measure specific frequencies of light. They can be used to detect and identify chemicals and pollutants with extremely high ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 20, 2025
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Imagine a whirlpool spinning in a river, or a tornado swirling through the sky. They don't just spin on the spot: they travel forward while maintaining that spiraling motion inside them. These twisting motions, called vortices, ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 19, 2025
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Topological spin textures, spatially organized patterns linked to the intrinsic angular momentum of particles, have proved to be highly advantageous for the development of spintronics and quantum technologies. One of the ...
Using new techniques, Yale researchers have demonstrated the ability to use lasers to cool quantized vibrations of sound within massive objects to their quantum ground state, the lowest energy allowable by quantum mechanics. ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 15, 2025
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186
For the first time, researchers at Umeå University have demonstrated the full capabilities of their large-scale laser facility. In a study published in Nature Photonics, the team reports generating a combination of ultrashort ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 15, 2025
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