Traditional lenses and mirrors focus light using curved surfaces. Metasurfaces can achieve similar functions with a flat layer of nanoscale structures that locally control the phase of light. Extending these flat optics into ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 6, 2026
0
503
X-rays with wavelengths between approximately 2.3 and 4.4 nanometers, i.e., in the so-called water window, are particularly well suited to examining biological samples in their natural, aqueous environment. To date, however, ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 5, 2026
0
26
Detecting a single photon is a challenge in itself. But what if you also want to know exactly how many photons arrive at a particular point at the same time? Physicist Erik Baalbergen is working on light detectors that can ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 5, 2026
0
78
The principle "Work smarter, not harder!" apparently also applies to controlling quantum materials with light. Many of their fascinating properties depend on how the atoms are arranged in the crystal. Ultrashort laser pulses ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 4, 2026
0
71
Stanford engineers and colleagues designed a chip that can take a muddled mixture of light from multiple lasers and output clean beams of light. It's the first time researchers have demonstrated a device that can take in ...
General Physics
Nov 3, 2026
0
189
A research team wanted to better understand how the forces between particles inside a material change. They discovered that by confining one-dimensional classical spin chains inside a mirror box cavity with light, they could ...
Condensed Matter
Nov 2, 2026
0
35
Quantum computers rely on qubits as their units of information. To connect them into a larger network across long distances, they need to transmit quantum information using light.
Quantum networks could one day connect quantum computers into more powerful systems and enable new forms of secure communication. But a fundamental obstacle stands in the way: Quantum information is extraordinarily fragile, ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 30, 2026
0
175
A research team from Toyohashi University of Technology, the Institute for Molecular Science and the Institute of Science Tokyo, led by Yu Kinjo and professor Ryugo Tero of Toyohashi University of Technology, has developed ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 29, 2026
0
12
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms in which electrons can move with high mobility, making it promising for high-speed electronic components. Yet it is not very efficient at converting light into electricity. While ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 29, 2026
0
33
