https://phys.org/physics-news/optics-photonics/ en-us The latest news on Optics and Photonics A shoebox-sized color detection device could enable precise measurements at record resolution, according to new research led by Adelaide University. An international team exploited an integrating sphere—a highly reflective hollow cavity that causes light to bounce around inside many times before exiting—to demonstrate a device that can measure the color (wavelength) composition of light with extreme precision at a resolution of just 6 femtometers. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-harnessing-laser-nuisance-resolution-atomic.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 18:00:07 EST news713539426 An international collaboration demonstrates that classical nonlinear dynamics can drive single- and two-photon states to thermalize, opening new avenues for simulating complex quantum many-body systems within accessible optical architectures. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-classicalquantum-interactions-complex-quantum-behavior.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 16:30:01 EST news713545141 In an international collaboration, researchers have developed a method that produces significantly higher-quality three-dimensional X-ray images than previously possible. The technique is used for 3D imaging with so-called X-ray nanotomography. The researchers' approach draws on expertise in mathematics and computational science. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-mathematical-method-sharpens-ray-images.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 Nov 2026 13:20:02 EST news713531535 A research team led by Lu Haipeng, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has achieved a breakthrough in preserving spin information for optoelectronic technologies. The team has developed a perovskite chiral multiple quantum-well system that maintains spin polarization approximately 300 times longer at room temperature. The study opens new possibilities for future quantum technologies and next-generation spin-based applications. The study was published in the journal Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-perovskite-room-temperature-polarization-successive.html Condensed Matter Mon, 09 Nov 2026 17:20:10 EST news713452861 An infrared signal thought to reveal how molecules in perovskite solar materials respond to light-generated charges can arise largely from the way light travels through the thin film itself, a new theoretical study shows. Jun Nishida, assistant professor at the Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), Japan, found that light-generated charges alter how infrared light is reflected and transmitted within the film layers, producing sharp features that resemble changes in molecular vibrations even when the vibrations themselves are unaltered. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-thin-masquerade-molecular-perovskite-solar.html Condensed Matter Mon, 09 Nov 2026 17:00:14 EST news713452621 The tiny atomic defects so important for future quantum technologies can be difficult to spot. Fortunately, they leave behind some clues. The defects can alter how a material responds to light, producing a distinctive optical fingerprint that scientists can measure. The challenge is figuring out which fingerprints belong to which defects. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-atomic-defects-telltale-optical-fingerprints.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 09 Nov 2026 14:40:09 EST news713448601 Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have discovered that charged states made of two electrons and a positively charged hole (or vice versa) on atomically thin rolls of carbon atoms have a structure-derived "handedness" in how they interact with light. While electron-hole pairs, or "excitons," were known to keep the chirality of the underlying nanotube, the team showed that adding a charge to create "trions" does not change this property. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-chirality-trions-illuminates-paths-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 09 Nov 2026 10:40:01 EST news713439121 Typically, after a physical system is disturbed, it can gradually return toward a state of thermal equilibrium by exchanging heat with its surroundings. Thermal equilibrium is a state in which there is no net transfer of heat between the system and its surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-optical-strong-mpemba-effect-qubit.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 09 Nov 2026 06:40:01 EST news713180411 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 the ultraviolet could support compact systems for high-resolution imaging, spectroscopy, and sensing, but it introduces a fundamental materials problem: many of the materials used to make metasurfaces strongly absorb UV light. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-air-holes-silicon-wafers-flat.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 06 Nov 2026 17:00:01 EST news713195166 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, it has been technically difficult to access this type of radiation at an appropriate quality and intensity, as only free-electron lasers in large-scale accelerator systems are capable of generating it. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-laser-plasma-generate-bright-rays.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 05 Nov 2026 19:00:02 EST news713119681 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 do just that. They form a key building block for the optical quantum computer of the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-physicist-detector-capable-photons-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 05 Nov 2026 16:20:09 EST news713111282 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 can be used to alter these structures in a targeted way—the light first excites electrons, whose changed energy and dynamics exert forces on the atomic nuclei and can thereby set the atoms in motion. Such processes unfold within femtoseconds, a millionth of a billionth of a second. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-pair-pulses-amplify-motion-atomic.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 04 Nov 2026 18:20:09 EST news713032982 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 mixed, or partially coherent, light and sort its photons into a clear set of separate beams. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-fingernail-sized-chip-untangles.html General Physics Tue, 03 Nov 2026 09:20:12 EST news712919281 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 force these magnetic particles to organize and undergo a phase transition. Their work provides the simplest exactly solvable examples showing that light can create new phase transitions with materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-solvable-reveals-magnetic-dimensional-chains.html Condensed Matter Mon, 02 Nov 2026 17:00:13 EST news712855507 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. https://phys.org/news/2026-11-molecules-blocks-future-quantum-networks.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 02 Nov 2026 12:00:05 EST news712840736 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, and the entanglement between particles of light on which such networks would depend is easily disrupted. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-skyrmions-outlast-entanglement-hinting.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 30 Oct 2026 11:40:01 EDT news712572482 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 light absorbed by graphene does excite electrons, leaving behind positively charged carriers called 'holes,' the absorbed light energy cannot be harnessed effectively unless electrons and holes are separated and directed to different contacts. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-electrical-guardrails-carriers-approach-harness.html Condensed Matter Thu, 29 Oct 2026 19:20:01 EDT news712501981 Researchers at EPFL have developed a chip-scale blue laser that combines stable light emission with rapid frequency control, opening possibilities for underwater communication, environmental sensing and quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-blue-laser-underwater-communication.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 29 Oct 2026 14:40:08 EDT news712494481 Theoretical physicists at Emory University have discovered a way to use light to detect the "spectral fingerprints" of anyons—exotic quasiparticles that emerge from the collective behavior of many electrons. Their findings are published in Physical Review Letters. The work offers a new tool for the study of anyons, which hold potential as fundamental building blocks for quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-theoretical-method-anyons-potential-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 29 Oct 2026 10:40:01 EDT news712484101 Using a new slow-motion electron camera, physicists from Regensburg, Marburg and Jülich revealed how intense electric fields drive electrons in graphene, causing them to jump across energy gaps in a seemingly paradoxical manner. This was made possible by a novel combination of laser technology and electron microscopy. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-motion-electron-camera-reveals-driven.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 12:00:28 EDT news712330488 Envision a material whose magnetic properties and electronic topology can be toggled by exposure to light, paving the way for future electronic devices that do not rely on traditional electrical switching, which wastes energy by producing heat. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-uncover-magnetism-topology-atomically.html Condensed Matter Tue, 27 Oct 2026 17:40:06 EDT news712244365 Researchers from Jülich, Aachen and Cologne have performed a quantum operation on a qubit in just 6.8 nanoseconds—with more than 99.98% accuracy. Such operations typically take several tens of nanoseconds in superconducting quantum computers. The paper was published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-gates-nanoseconds-accuracy.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 14:40:12 EDT news712317781 Researchers at the Osaka Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (ORIST), in collaboration with the University of Osaka and Tohoku University, have developed a flexible and stretchable silicon material whose response to terahertz waves can be mechanically tuned. By etching microscopic spiral springs into silicon, the team made the fragile material bendable and stretchable. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-microscopic-fragile-silicon-flexible-terahertz.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 14:20:06 EDT news712316161 Quantum networks, systems that connect devices using quantum mechanical effects, could potentially allow users to share information more securely and efficiently. Building these networks typically entails linking stationary qubits, units of quantum information encoded in trapped ions or other physical systems, using photons (particles of light) transmitted through optical fibers. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-bridge-wavelength-gap-quantum-communications.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 27 Oct 2026 08:40:01 EDT news711967827 Just as it is difficult for a camera to keep both a nearby flower and a distant mountain sharply focused at the same time, conventional optical microscopes face a similar challenge when imaging structures located at different depths inside the body. Tighter focusing of light improves spatial resolution, but at the same time reduces the depth range over which the image remains sharply focused. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-metalens-microscope-focus-voltage-optics.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 26 Oct 2026 17:20:10 EDT news712253282 Researchers at AIST have directly observed magnetic flux quanta generated in a superconductor by photon absorption and demonstrated a new principle of photon detection that identifies the number of photons based on the number of these flux quanta. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-magnetic-flux-quanta-photon.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:20:02 EDT news711982021 In 1953, two physicists showed that an electron beam skimming past a grating emits light whose color depends only on the electron's speed and the grating's spacing. Known as Smith-Purcell radiation, this phenomenon has become a useful tool for building compact, tunable light sources and tracking particle beams without touching them. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-plain-silicon-reveals-hidden-electron.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 23 Oct 2026 16:20:08 EDT news711980881 Researchers have observed a molecule in the first instants after it has absorbed light and tracked the coordinated motion of electrons and nuclei with a temporal resolution of three femtoseconds. This is the result achieved by an international research group led by the Politecnico di Milano, which has developed a new apparatus for studying ultrafast photochemical processes. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ultrafast-pulses-track-molecular-motion.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:00:02 EDT news711904681 Researchers at Fraunhofer IAF have developed a laser-enhanced quantum sensor that combines high magnetic-field sensitivity with a large dynamic range. Using laser threshold magnetometry, they improved the ratio of sensitivity and dynamic range by a factor of up to 590 compared with state-of-the-art approaches. The breakthrough is enabled by the first demonstration of 100% optical contrast, combined with strong laser readout signals. The results, published in Nature Communications, open up new prospects for medical diagnostics, navigation, and resource exploration. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-diamond-laser-optical-contrast-magnetic.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:20:08 EDT news711893942 Scientists from the Quantum Technologies Group at the Institute of Physics Zagreb, in collaboration with a colleague from the Physics Department at the Faculty of Science (PMF), have experimentally demonstrated for the first time the existence of discrete one-dimensional (1D) solitons in an optically induced photonic lattice in warm rubidium vapor. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-laser-lattice-reveals-discrete-solitons.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:20:07 EDT news711813961