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Optics & Photonics news
Copper blasted into a million-degree plasma strips away 22 electrons in a flash before atoms recover
When laser flashes hit matter, electrons are knocked off their orbits around the atomic nuclei. This can generate extremely hot plasmas composed of charged particles—ions and electrons. Researchers at HZDR have now observed ...
Optics & Photonics
22 hours ago
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Quantum simulations tackle photon polarization flip, but today's hardware falls short
For the last 80 years, the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED), which describes all electromagnetic interactions, has been a cornerstone of the standard model, withstanding the scrutiny of countless experiments and agreeing ...
Optics & Photonics
22 hours ago
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Next-generation atomic clock successfully tested at sea
Adelaide University researchers have successfully tested a new type of portable atomic clock at sea for the first time, using technology that could help power the next generation of navigation, communications and scientific ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 14, 2026
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'Ghost tunnels' guide sound waves in one direction while staying invisible to others
Acoustic metamaterials are a fast-evolving family of materials which manipulate sound waves in ever more advanced ways. Now, a team led by Changqing Xu at Nanjing Normal University in China has engineered an acoustic metamaterial, ...
Record-breaking photonics approach traps light on a chip for millions of cycles
For years, scientists have dreamed of using atomically thin van der Waals (vdW) materials to build faster, more efficient photonic chips. These materials can be stacked and tuned with extraordinary precision, opening possibilities ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 13, 2026
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High-resolution imaging captures cavity-induced density waves in a quantum gas
A new study, published in Physical Review Letters, reports that scientists have successfully imaged the formation of cavity-induced density waves induced by laser light in an ultracold quantum gas. Previously, only global ...
Scientists turn 'mess' into breakthrough: Chaotic design unlocks next-generation optical devices
Researchers from the Monash University School of Physics and Astronomy have flipped a long-held assumption in optics, showing that deliberately introducing controlled disorder into ultra-thin optical devices can dramatically ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 10, 2026
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Megawatt structured light arrives with 3,070 optical vortices in one array
Optical vortices—light beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM)—are characterized by helical wavefronts and phase singularities. While they have been widely studied in recent decades, two fundamental limitations have ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 9, 2026
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Single-shot imaging captures more information about ultrafast microscopic processes than previously possible
Researchers have developed a new imaging technique that captures more information about ultrafast processes in the microscopic world than was previously possible. The technique offers scientists a powerful new tool to observe ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 9, 2026
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Electron–atom scattering encodes the quantum state of electron wave packets
A new analysis reveals what happens when very short or narrow electron beams encounter a particle. The research is published in the New Journal of Physics. Scientists should be able to achieve a new level of control over ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 8, 2026
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Optical control of nuclear spins in molecules points to new paths for quantum technologies
Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have reported important progress in quantum physics and materials science by optically initializing, controlling, and reading out nuclear spin states in a molecular ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 8, 2026
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A layered approach sharpens brain signals in optical imaging
Near-infrared spectroscopy, or fNIRS, offers a way to monitor brain activity without surgery or radiation by tracking changes in blood flow and oxygenation. Light sources placed on the scalp send near-infrared light into ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 7, 2026
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Mechanical inputs boost diamond quantum sensor states as Q factor tops one million
Most people think of diamonds as high-end adornments. Not Ania Bleszynski Jayich. The UC Santa Barbara physicist sees diamonds, which she grows in the UC Quantum Foundry, as a potentially powerful foundation for quantum sensors. ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 6, 2026
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Quantum ground state of rotation achieved for the first time in two dimensions
Quantum mechanics tells us that a particle can never be perfectly still. But how precisely can it be oriented? A research team at the University of Vienna, together with colleagues at TU Wien and Ulm University, has now cooled ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 6, 2026
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New detector triples the speed of electron camera, enabling higher sensitivity
An instrument that uses high-energy electrons to take "snapshots" of ultrafast chemical processes at the atomic and molecular level just got a major upgrade. Researchers have conducted the first experiment using a new detector, ...
General Physics
Apr 6, 2026
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A tiny detector for microwave photons could advance quantum tech
Detecting a single particle of light is hard; detecting a single microwave photon is even harder. Microwave photons, the tiny packets of electromagnetic radiation used in current technologies like Wi-Fi and radar, carry far ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 3, 2026
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Compact flat-lens system can generate nondiffracting bottle beams
Most laser sources produce Gaussian beams that diverge as they propagate. This natural spreading limits their effectiveness in applications that require light to remain concentrated over long distances. To overcome this challenge, ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 2, 2026
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Ytterbium atomic clock could open a new window on fundamental physics
For the first time, an international team of physicists has successfully harnessed a rare orbital transition in atoms of ytterbium to create a new type of atomic clock that is both highly precise and extremely sensitive to ...
Hidden features in X-rays could radically change how we measure and understand them
Hidden features uncovered in X-ray signals are set to overturn a key scientific theory and fundamentally change how X-rays are interpreted across fields of physics, chemistry, biology and materials science, new research reveals. ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 1, 2026
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Helical liquid crystals can flip light's chirality under ultralow electric fields
The direction in which the electromagnetic field of circularly polarized light rotates can be easily reversed by applying a voltage, RIKEN researchers have demonstrated. This could enable a new generation of optical devices ...
Condensed Matter
Apr 1, 2026
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