https://phys.org/physics-news/optics-photonics/ en-us The latest news on Optics and Photonics Researchers at the University of Basel and the Technical University of Munich have developed a new method to reveal the collective motion of electrons in one of the most elusive states of matter: the Wigner crystal. Using light, the physicists were able to uncover previously inaccessible properties of this fragile quantum state. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-optical-method-reveals-internal-dynamics.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:00:03 EDT news705591481 Mirrors normally reveal what is placed in front of them, even when their curvature distorts a reflection. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have introduced a different optical concept: a "lying mirror" that hides information carried by an input image and transforms it into a misleading, ordinary-looking pattern at the output. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-mirror-surfaces-conceal-optical.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:40:02 EDT news705572941 In a new Nature Physics study, researchers accelerated electrons to more than twice the energy predicted by the traditional dephasing limit for laser-plasma accelerators operating over the same distance. This was made possible by a specially engineered laser pulse called a flying focus, which counteracts a longstanding limitation known as "dephasing." https://phys.org/news/2026-08-flying-focus-laser-key-limitation.html Optics & Photonics Sat, 08 Aug 2026 15:40:03 EDT news705318688 Using light to process quantum information is one of the most promising approaches to building future quantum computers. Light particles, known as photons, are excellent carriers of quantum information, but their lack of natural interactions has created a major challenge for researchers seeking to build systems capable of performing a full range of computations. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shifting-architecture-versatility-photonic-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:00:01 EDT news705325201 Supercontinuum light sources—often called "white lasers" because they emit a broad, continuous rainbow of colors—are essential tools for everything from advanced medical imaging to environmental gas detection. However, researchers have historically faced a frustrating trade-off: A broad spectrum comes at the expense of high fluctuations, which has effectively limited their use. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-elegant-modification-range-noise-white.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 06 Aug 2026 19:00:03 EDT news705252541 Researchers have demonstrated a solid-state organic laser microcavity fabricated entirely by solution processing. The device operates in the strong light–matter coupling regime, where light and matter form hybrid states called polaritons. This makes the platform not only a new type of solution-processed laser but also a powerful way to study nonlinear polariton interactions. The paper is published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-fully-solution-solid-state-polariton.html Condensed Matter Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:00:06 EDT news705251523 For the first time, scientists have observed a three-dimensional woven structure forming naturally inside a crystal, revealing a previously unknown way in which matter can organize itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-woven-naturally-crystal.html Condensed Matter Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:50:01 EDT news705255901 A KAIST research team led by professor Mooseok Jang from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering has developed a single-shot phase imaging technique that reconstructs a phase object—a transparent object such as glass, plastic film or a living cell, which produces almost no visible contrast under an ordinary camera but induces a subtle shift in light called a phase change—from a single measurement, even when the object is fully enclosed between two dynamic scattering layers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shot-phase-imaging-technique-reconstruct.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:20:03 EDT news705251821 Three years after a team of Caltech scientists showed that pairs of entangled photons could double the resolution of a light microscope, the same lab has figured out a way to double down on that improvement. They have now achieved a fourfold resolution boost compared to a classical microscope, using a new optical design that sends one of the entangled photons through the microscope's optics three times rather than just once. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-quantum-microscopy-quadruples-microscope-resolution.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:20:01 EDT news705248785 Quantum errors are a normal part of quantum computing because fragile physical qubits (the tiny components storing data) can easily break down because of environmental noise, like heat, stray signals or microscopic vibrations. Typical fixes involve vast amounts of extra hardware qubits, which make computers larger, more expensive and harder to build. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-qubit-entangling-gate-flags-errors.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705228588 Today's quantum technologies rely on energy-intensive lasers, raising concerns that scaling them up could further increase energy demands. In new work, researchers have demonstrated that quantum entanglement between photons can be generated directly from sunlight, offering a potential alternative. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-sunlight-powered-setup-generates-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:00:04 EDT news705152641 An international team of researchers has succeeded in producing atomic quantum gas mixtures with an unprecedented particle flux. In the journal Nature Communications, the scientists report on experiments conducted with the MAIUS-B apparatus, in which Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) consisting of two different atomic species—rubidium and potassium—were generated and studied under microgravity conditions in the Einstein Elevator at Leibniz University Hannover in Germany. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-miniaturized-laser-technology-paves-fundamental.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 19:40:04 EDT news705162354 All chemistry starts with a push from electrons. In the early moments of a chemical reaction, it's the movement of electrons that initiates the breaking of old chemical bonds and forging of new ones, transforming one molecule into another. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-attosecond-ray-method-early-electron.html General Physics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:50:01 EDT news705166081 In early 2025, special signals wended their way through a fiber-optic highway strung above the streets and sidewalks of the Maryland suburbs. The arrival of those signals at their destination marks a significant step toward a long-held dream of building a "quantum network." Researchers believe that this emerging technology could someday link quantum devices in ways that supercharge scientific research, enable ultrasecure communications and boost the power of future quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-spooky-particles-transit-dc-suburbs.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:30:01 EDT news705164821 Lasers have become indispensable in everyday life and research, with applications ranging from data transmission and metrology to manufacturing. Masers, by contrast, have so far found hardly any practical applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-semiconductor-maser-room-temperature.html Condensed Matter Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:00:06 EDT news705154441 One of the most famous and intriguing results of quantum mechanics is the finding that fundamental particles, such as electrons, cannot be pinned down to one single location. Instead, a particle is described by its "wavefunction," which allows researchers to derive probability distributions—a sort of mathematical map that shows the possibilities—of fundamental properties such as its position and momentum. In particular, the electron wavefunctions within a molecule, known as "molecular orbitals," carry information about how the molecule interacts with its surroundings. For example, they show how it may absorb light or how a chemical reaction might take place. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-molecular-orbitals-imaged-3d-path.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 18:00:01 EDT news705077522 Modern photonic chips can pack sophisticated optical functions onto devices smaller than a fingernail. They are increasingly used to generate, manipulate and measure light for applications ranging from communications to sensing. But most of these chips rely on a single material to do the heavy lifting, limiting the range of optical effects they can produce. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-materials-photonic-chip-generate-frequencies.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news705061201 When designing microscopes, optical engineers have long faced a trade-off between speed, field of view and resolution. But improving one of these properties typically comes at the expense of another. Now, a UC Berkeley–led team of researchers has found a way to address this challenge, opening the door to new possibilities in the field of microscopy. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-focus-microscope-captures-billion-pixels.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 03 Aug 2026 18:40:01 EDT news704990341 Researchers at Flinders University have discovered an unexpected way light can control tiny electronic structures inside advanced materials, a development that could help pave the way for more energy-efficient memory devices, sensors and future computing technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-nanoscale-domains-ferroelectric-crystal.html Condensed Matter Mon, 03 Aug 2026 16:50:01 EDT news704993701 The interaction between X-rays and matter can be actively controlled, according to an international research team led by the University of Hamburg and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory that has succeeded in producing bright X-ray images with significantly less damage. In an article published in Nature Communications, the researchers report using ultrafast pulses that partially reverse the damage they generate. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ultrafast-ray-partially-reverse-enabling.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:00:05 EDT news704979602 Researchers in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have discovered a new type of quantum light emitter in diamonds that could help overcome a number of challenges facing quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-diamond-newfound-defect-vibrations-hinder.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:40:08 EDT news704711281 Topological photonics can force propagating light to travel in a single direction—allowing researchers to route optical signals around corners and past defects without any of it scattering backward. So far, however, this one-way flow has only been found at the boundary between two specially engineered "topological insulator" regions, leaving most of the material unavailable for light transport. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-photonic-platform-lane-highway.html Condensed Matter Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:20:04 EDT news704625165 An international team of researchers from École Polytechnique, Collège de France and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has achieved a world first: the experimental realization of an all-optical photonic time crystal (PTC), a material whose optical properties can be strongly and periodically modulated over ultrafast timescales. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-photonic-crystals-ultrafast-terahertz-range.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 19:40:04 EDT news704645101 Researchers have developed and tested an infrared spectroscopy system that can rapidly detect chemical aerosols from a distance by using light reflected from common surfaces such as traffic signs, tree trunks or painted surfaces. The new method could make it possible to detect hazards without complicated instruments, helping improve safety and ease operations at industrial sites, public venues and other high-risk locations. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-spectroscopy-aerosols-traffic-tree-trunks.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:50:01 EDT news704647381 Large-scale quantum communication networks require both reliable quantum memories and coherent single-photon sources that can exchange quantum information efficiently. A coherent source of single photons with narrow linewidth, high brightness, spectral uniformity and compatibility with quantum memories is necessary. While a variety of single-photon sources, such as quantum dots (QDs) and atoms in warm vapor cells, have been developed in recent years, each has inherent limitations, making a scalable and functional quantum network challenging to achieve. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cesium-atoms-quantum-dots-generate.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:20:07 EDT news704640781 For years, researchers have tried to harness the "twist" of light to transmit data. This property describes how light spirals as it travels forward, and because it can be molded into a virtually infinite number of different twists, it provides a massive, promising alphabet for high-capacity communication. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hidden-properties-quantum-chaos-bad.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:40:01 EDT news704630222 Full-color displays normally require separate red, green and blue light emitters. A team from the University of Osaka and Ritsumeikan University has demonstrated another approach: a single light-emitting layer that produces several colors when electrically powered at room temperature. The study was published in Applied Physics Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-stable-room-temperature.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 30 Jul 2026 10:20:01 EDT news704621697 Resolving a long-standing problem in semiconductor physics and optoelectronics, a team of researchers from Skoltech—a VEB.RF group institution—and their colleagues from ITMO University and HSE University have for the first time demonstrated direct electrical pumping of a polariton laser based on a solution-processed halide perovskite microcrystal. Published in Nature, this solution to a decades-long technological challenge ushers in inexpensive nonepitaxial laser diodes operating under continuous electric current. These could be used in optical sensing and spectroscopy, high-speed computing and energy-efficient neuromorphic computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-electrically-perovskite-polariton-laser-diode.html Condensed Matter Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:20:06 EDT news704544242 For most theories in physics, the order of operations has little impact on the result. When setting a dial to a certain position, for example, it doesn't matter whether it's turned clockwise or counterclockwise—the result will always be the same. Yet for non-Abelian gauge theories, order does matter. These theories underpin the Standard Model, but to test their more subtle predictions, researchers have so far relied on enormous particle accelerators. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-complex-field-physics-tabletop-photonic.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 11:20:04 EDT news704539586 Electronic motion sets the stage for virtually every light-induced process in nature, from the first step of a chemical reaction to the flow of charge in a solid. Yet these processes unfold so rapidly that they can be observed only with flashes of light lasting a few hundred attoseconds—billionths of a billionth of a second. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-attosecond-capture-electrons-motion.html General Physics Wed, 29 Jul 2026 10:40:06 EDT news704538601