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New chip offers way to make use of quantum system 'imperfections'

Quantum technologies promise powerful new kinds of computers, giving scientists new tools to mimic and explore nature at its tiniest scales. At those levels, everything in nature—from atoms and electrons to light itself—follows ...

Prototype sets record for optical quantum information technology

Chinese scientists have developed a programmable quantum computing prototype called Jiuzhang 4.0 that has set a new world record for optical quantum information technology, according to a study published May 13 in the journal ...

Sunlight-powered generation of correlated photon pairs

Pairs of correlated or entangled photons are a foundational resource in quantum optics. They are most commonly produced through spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), a nonlinear optical process that typically relies ...

Seeing the invisible: The limits of two-photon vision

Near-infrared light is invisible to humans. And yet, under the right conditions, the human eye can perceive it. Researchers from Poland's International Center for Translational Eye Research (ICTER) have now shown that the ...

Atoms vibrate on circular paths—with an unexpected twist

An international team of researchers, including scientists from HZDR and Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, for the first time directly observed how angular momentum is transferred and conserved within a crystal ...

Giving X-ray vision a sense of direction

Whether in tooth enamel or in nanomaterials made of silicon, the orientation of tiny internal structures often determines the properties of a material. A new X-ray method can even make this nano-order visible when the structures ...

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Optics & Photonics
This tiny grain-of-rice sensor gives robots a new sense and changes what delicate tools can detect
Condensed Matter
The first direct observation of laser-created isolated hopfions
Optics & Photonics
Photonics advance could enable compact, high-performance lidar sensors
Condensed Matter
Team steers electron spin ballistically in graphene
Optics & Photonics
LED light unlocks 3D optical fingerprints inside materials without lasers
Optics & Photonics
Hologram technology where 'light becomes the key' enables hard-to-copy security
Optics & Photonics
Quantum geometry applied to light-based systems expands toolkit for topological photonics
Condensed Matter
Inexpensive material compresses light, paving the way for photonic microcircuits in the terahertz range
Optics & Photonics
Physicists have measured 'negative time' in the lab
Optics & Photonics
A longstanding quantum roadblock just fell, opening existing fiber networks to ultra-secure light signals
Optics & Photonics
Light unlocks full polarization control at ultrafast speeds, reshaping photonics
Optics & Photonics
XXP instrument back online, marking a key milestone in high-energy upgrade to SLAC's X-ray laser
Optics & Photonics
Tiny flexible lasers enable force sensing inside living cells
Optics & Photonics
Light-responsive hydrogels enable fast and precise control of soft materials
Optics & Photonics
A new era for ultrafast photonics: 2D mercury-acetylide frameworks for near-infrared nonlinear optics
Optics & Photonics
Light can now be shaped in empty space, and it could simplify sensing and boost data links
Optics & Photonics
Hidden stripe pattern lets microscopes auto-focus across 400 times deeper range
Condensed Matter
A mechanical blue LED: Stretching GaN shifts light from UV to blue without changing chemistry
Optics & Photonics
Team develops modulator for compact photonic integrated circuits
Optics & Photonics
This ultracold quantum device turns electricity into something far stranger that could unlock sound-based lasers

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Materials Science
High-entropy catalyst lets ammonia fuel cell reach world-class power and durability
Molecular & Computational biology
When Mendel's rules don't apply: Mouse study reveals hidden epigenetic inheritance
Nanophysics
Chiral carbon nanotube films deliver giant light-conversion effect
Astronomy
Space storms light up Japan's sky with red auroras climbing far higher than expected
Environment
Carbon markets underestimate the risks U.S. forests face from climate change, researchers warn
Cell & Microbiology
Early complex life clung to oxygenated seafloors for hundreds of millions of years, scientists discover
Environment
Food and drink plastics dominate marine litter across 112 nations, research reveals
Plants & Animals
Genes without borders: Coral babies can travel vast distances across the Pacific Ocean
Biochemistry
What if the direction of a magnet could shape the building blocks of life?
Social Sciences
Forbidden friends become former friends after moms voice disapproval
Archaeology
Portugal burial reveals first known bone dental bridge in national archaeological record
Plants & Animals
Tiny sea creature Porpita porpita may live adrift at sea for years longer than previously thought
Plants & Animals
Lab fish cycles are hours out of sync with natural ones, researchers discover
Astrobiology
Asteroid impact site reveals possible traces of early life
Plants & Animals
The fungus that spoils nearly everything: Gray mold secret revealed
Cell & Microbiology
How face-building genes get ready early: Genome folding may prime crucial DNA switches
Astronomy
After 10 years of upgrades, this legendary telescope has returned to chase black holes, asteroids and cosmic chemistry
Space Exploration
Could future Mars settlers print their own tools?
Plants & Animals
Bees found an unlikely new food source, and it could reshape how a destructive forest disease travels
Evolution
Sri Lanka teeth reveal rising plant diets thousands of years before agriculture

Chiral metasurfaces guide twisted light into free space

Light can carry angular momentum in two distinct ways. One comes from polarization, which describes how the electric field rotates. The other comes from the shape of the wavefront itself, which can twist like a corkscrew ...

Quantum researchers engineer extremely precise phonon lasers

When lasers were invented in the 1960s, they opened new avenues for scientific discovery and everyday applications, from scanners at the grocery store to corrective eye surgery. Conventional lasers control photons—individual ...

Tiny LED design could power next-generation technology

From 3D movie screens to augmented-reality devices, many modern technologies rely on our ability to manipulate light. Doing so in a cost-effective and efficient way, however, is often a formidable task. In an article published ...