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Optics & Photonics news
Light-programmed system projects 28-layer 3D images in single shot
Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and CNSI (California NanoSystems Institute), led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan, introduced a snapshot 3D image projection system that integrates a digital encoder with a ...
Optics & Photonics
13 hours ago
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Engineering quantum Hall stripes in 2D materials inside electromagnetic cavities
Quantum materials, materials with properties that are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, have proved to be highly promising for the development of ultra-efficient electronic devices, quantum processors, highly precise ...
New cavity control strategy improves performance of blue vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers
GaN-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are promising for displays, sensing and optical communication, but improving efficiency remains challenging. Researchers have now shown that "cavity tuning," which ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 11, 2026
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Physicists introduce phase contrast to electron microscopy, delivering sharper images of our body's tiniest proteins
Nearly 100 years ago, a seemingly simple discovery revolutionized the microscope. The introduction of phase contrast, which garnered a Nobel Prize in 1953, brought into clear view structures inside cells that had previously ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 11, 2026
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Electron matter waves gain ultrafast torque that flips handedness in femtoseconds
Many natural processes, ranging from magnetism to chemical reactions, entail the movement and rotation of particles at very small scales. In quantum mechanics, particles exhibit both particle-like and wave-like behaviors, ...
Open-source FLIM Playground could speed reproducible analysis of complex cell images
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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Hardy ice plant's optical innovation inspires reflective design possibilities
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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Why this $10 spectrometer chip could bring real-time chemical sensing to wearables
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and GlitterinTech, a startup founded by the same research group, have unveiled a fundamentally new type of optical spectrometer that delivers laboratory-grade precision in a device ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 8, 2026
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Achiral crystal reveals Raman optical activity through ferroaxial order
Raman optical activity, long thought to require chiral molecules or magnetic order, has been demonstrated in an achiral, nonmagnetic crystal by researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo. The effect arises through ferroaxial ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 8, 2026
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Light pulses uncover Higgs mode that reshapes perovskite crystal symmetry
Waves of light and sound interact to drive electronic and structural changes in a perovskite crystal. At the atomic scale, nothing is ever truly still. Materials that appear perfectly rigid and motionless to the naked eye ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 5, 2026
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Photoexcitation flips 2D moiré devices from metals to insulators in ultrafast test
Quantum materials, materials with properties that are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics describing many-body interactions, have proved promising for the development of various advanced technologies. Many of these ...
Portable UV spectrometer can detect air pollutants across 2.5 km with high precision
Birgitta Schultze-Bernhardt and her team at the Institute of Experimental Physics at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) have developed a new type of UV dual-comb spectrometer that detects gaseous air pollutants with ...
General Physics
Jun 3, 2026
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Ultrafast laser shrinks to chip scale, potentially lowering costs for diagnostics and atomic clocks
Ultrafast lasers emit pulses lasting only a few hundred femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second). These flashes of light power applications from precision micromachining to eye surgery to optical frequency combs, the Nobel ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 3, 2026
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Terahertz imaging maps spatial chirality in materials with 100-micrometer resolution
In nature, there exist structures that are mirror images of each other but cannot be perfectly superimposed. These are known as chiral objects, derived from the Greek word for "hand," since left and right hands share the ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 2, 2026
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Cutting a photon in two creates an infinite swarm of particles
By definition, elementary particles can't be broken into smaller pieces. But in a new theoretical study published in Physical Review Letters, Johannes Skaar and colleagues have revealed what would happen if you tried anyway ...
Fiber optic components enable high-performance 2-µm fiber lasers
Laser systems operating in the 2-micrometer wavelength range open diverse opportunities in medical technology, agriculture, and plastics processing. In the Eurostars project DECOMP, Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) has developed ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 1, 2026
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Matter may entangle with light far more easily near quantum critical points
Quantum entanglement is a state in which particles are entwined with each other. In this entwined state, the properties of one particle influence the other, even when they aren't physically close to each other. This phenomenon ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 1, 2026
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Quantum light gives a 20-fold boost to ultrafast laser processes
Nonlinear interactions between light and matter are at the heart of some of the most powerful tools in modern optics, but pushing these processes to their limits has long been hampered by a fundamental constraint: the stronger ...
Axial encoding unlocks up to eightfold faster 3D microscopy with less light
A research team from HKU Engineering has pioneered a fundamentally new imaging strategy known as AIMED (Arbitrary illumination microscopy with encoded depth), which utilizes a sub-sampling approach. By integrating innovations ...
Optics & Photonics
May 30, 2026
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'Atom Camera' maps laser light at nanoscale using a single ultracold atom
A research group led by Assistant Professor Takafumi Tomita and Professor Kenji Ohmori at the Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, has developed a new microscopy technique called the Atom ...
Optics & Photonics
May 29, 2026
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More news
How dual-comb spectroscopy works and why it could reshape precision sensing
New three‑dimensional magnetic structure discovered with laser light
Tuning into quantum sounds: Acoustic devices simplify quantum sensors
The quantum key to seeing through chaos
New chip offers way to make use of quantum system 'imperfections'
Prototype sets record for optical quantum information technology
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Interpretable AI in materials discovery: Uncovering how models make predictions
New tool to help build more reliable DNA nanostructures
Is 'gender gating' the secret to success in online dating?
Dogs and humans are more alike than we thought, study finds
TRACERS spacecraft maps solar energy's route into Earth using cusp electrons
New atlas reveals more about how the body's 'master gland' really works
Sunlight-powered generation of correlated photon pairs
Seeing the invisible: The limits of two-photon vision
Atoms vibrate on circular paths—with an unexpected twist
New quantum protocol breaks distance and speed barriers in fiber networks
AI surrogate accelerates nonlinear optics simulations by orders of magnitude
Giving X-ray vision a sense of direction
Forecast flags 210 antimicrobial resistance traits that could spread by 2050
AI sorts cell droplets into four shapes, uncovering drug effects in human cells
