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Optics & Photonics news
How longer exciton lifetimes could ease efficiency trade-off in organic solar cells
Although the efficiency of organic solar cells has now risen to more than 20%, there are physical limits that make it difficult to further increase their performance. A research team from Linköping University in Sweden, the ...
Condensed Matter
9 hours ago
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Room-temperature laser hits record stability with 68-cm optical cavity
Scientists at NPL have demonstrated the best-reported laser frequency stability achieved with an optical reference cavity operating at room temperature, marking a major advance in ultrastable laser technology. The team's ...
Optics & Photonics
10 hours ago
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Ultrafast X-rays allow researchers to 'watch' how molecules rearrange during a chemical reaction controlled by light
Since the 1980s, researchers have sought to use laser light to control chemical reactions relevant to photochemistry, catalysis and light-responsive materials. But this technique, known as coherent control, has a blind spot: ...
Optics & Photonics
11 hours ago
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Graphene plasmon cavities enable advanced and scalable terahertz photodetectors
How could we noninvasively distinguish between healthy and cancerous tissue? And how could we increase the speed of wireless communications? These two seemingly unrelated questions may share the same answer: terahertz (THz) ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 23, 2026
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New breakthrough spots deadly methanol without opening bottles
A new optical technique developed by researchers at the University of St Andrews and Adelaide University allows toxic methanol in alcoholic spirits to be detected without opening the bottle. Published in the Journal of Physics: ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 23, 2026
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Scientists create optical skyrmions using a two-century-old light phenomenon
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have used a classic optical phenomenon known as the Poisson spot to create stable patterns of light called optical skyrmions, which are tiny, swirling ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 23, 2026
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Solid-state material turns visible light into high-energy UV at sunlight intensity, expanding solar energy potential
Two cups of warm water don't make one cup of boiling water. But in the quantum world, multiple low-energy photons can combine to produce a single, higher-energy photon.
Optics & Photonics
Jun 23, 2026
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Room-temperature device synchronizes distant laser spots into single coherent 'supermode'
Researchers have demonstrated a new way to make spatially separated lasers synchronize and act as a single coherent light source—without extreme conditions or complex materials.
Optics & Photonics
Jun 22, 2026
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A new way to control tiny quantum light sources by twisting atomically thin layers of hexagonal boron nitride
In a paper published in Science Advances, researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in collaboration with the University of Minnesota and Kyung Hee University have found a new way to control quantum light sources, ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 19, 2026
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Circular polarization could cut laser backscatter in fusion experiments
Experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) require breathtaking precision. Each of the 192 lasers is focused to a width of a few millimeters to enter a 3-millimeter hole at the ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 18, 2026
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Laser pulses set layered metals vibrating 1 trillion times per second, revealing electron-driven motion
How does light turn into motion within a metal? A team of researchers from European XFEL, the University of Potsdam and other participating institutions has shown that ultrashort optical laser pulses can trigger extremely ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 18, 2026
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Superconducting TES array X-ray spectrometer goes into operation at BESSY II
Europe's first and only TES spectrometer at a synchrotron source is now in operation at BESSY II, developed within a collaboration between the HZB, the MPI-CEC (Mühlheim-an-der-Ruhr, Germany) and the NIST (Boulder, Colorado, ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 17, 2026
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Ultrafast laser pulses reveal a material's hidden state of matter
What would it take to instantly transform a material from an electrical insulator into a conductive state without ever touching it? Using ultrafast laser pulses and powerful X-rays, scientists at the National Synchrotron ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 15, 2026
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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
Jun 14, 2026
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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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Axial encoding unlocks up to eightfold faster 3D microscopy with less light
'Atom Camera' maps laser light at nanoscale using a single ultracold atom
How dual-comb spectroscopy works and why it could reshape precision sensing
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A magnetic field that kills superconductivity can also bring it back
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'
