https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. 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 Researchers at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have measured the shortest high-energy X-ray pulses ever recorded at an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL). The pulses had photon energies of about 9 kiloelectronvolts (keV) and clocked in at durations of 100 to 400 attoseconds—mere billionths of a billionth of a second. The results are published in Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ray-free-electron-laser-shortest.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 14:40:10 EDT news711803582 Quantum networks, systems that connect devices and allow them to exchange information encoded in the quantum states of particles, could enable more secure communications. To build these networks, physicists need to devise strategies that allow distant particles to share quantum states, preserving them long enough to perform calculations or enable communication between devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-atomic-memory-distant-ions-entangled.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 07:40:12 EDT news711706392 Voltage fluctuations, light fluctuations, temperature fluctuations—any fluctuations are troublesome and thus undesirable. They don't just cause discomfort; in engineering and medical applications, they affect the accuracy of measurements or introduce errors in controls. Even at the minute level of quantum phenomena, fluctuations are considered undesirable. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-forbidden-emissions-graphene-expose-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 19 Oct 2026 13:40:04 EDT news711626341 The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) has remeasured a key transition frequency of the strontium (Sr) atom for the first time in 88 years, since 1938, using a photonic grating chip. It has established a new absolute frequency value with a measurement uncertainty reduced by more than 50 times. By providing an accurate reference value for next-generation quantum technologies, this achievement is expected to contribute to the precise control and miniaturization of quantum devices, including atomic clocks and neutral-atom quantum computers. The work is published in the journal Metrologia. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-redetermine-key-strontium-frequency.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 19 Oct 2026 13:20:18 EDT news711615313 Today's computer technology, based on silicon chips, is slowly reaching its physical limits. Components cannot be miniaturized indefinitely, and clock speeds cannot be increased indefinitely. At the same time, huge AI data centers are being built in many places, and these consume an immense amount of electricity. This is why scientists around the world are searching for novel materials that can replace or complement silicon technology and consume significantly less electricity. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-rays-reveal-copper-oxide.html Condensed Matter Mon, 19 Oct 2026 11:40:06 EDT news711621013 Magnetic fields are invisible yet essential components in technologies ranging from MRI scanners and particle accelerators to atomic clocks and future quantum computers. Each of these applications requires magnetic fields with specific shapes and properties. Today, creating such tailored magnetic fields requires researchers and engineers to design specialized, carefully optimized magnets or large systems of coils for each individual application—a complex and resource-intensive process. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-magnetic-sculpting-source-fields-predetermined.html Condensed Matter Mon, 12 Oct 2026 18:40:01 EDT news711039182 For decades, researchers around the world have been working toward this goal—and now major advances are following in rapid succession. Vienna is now home to the world's first nuclear clock that stabilizes itself, as atomic clocks typically do. This system has been shown to remain stable for more than 24 hours without intervention, and the related findings are published in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-nuclear-clock-vienna.html General Physics Wed, 07 Oct 2026 11:00:51 EDT news710523241 The world would look radically different without rulers and measuring tapes that fit into a pocket. Carpenters, fashion designers and engineers rely on these trusty tools to check the size of everything from a wooden board to a fabric swatch. But physicists who work with light lack that same convenience for one of the basic measurements of their craft. They routinely need to measure and compare the frequencies—colors—of the light waves they are using. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chip-based-frequency-potential-portable.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 06 Oct 2026 15:00:10 EDT news710504281 EPFL researchers have developed a chip-based laser that keeps a very stable frequency across its tested operating range, without needing active electronic control. Their research is published in the journal Nature Photonics. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-laser-stays.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:20:02 EDT news710149861 An international team of physicists has developed a new method for determining the precise color of laser light using an image that rotates as the laser's frequency shifts. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-rotating-pattern-reveals-laser-frequency.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 29 Sep 2026 11:40:10 EDT news709897261 Take a second and turn it into trillions of moments. Measure each one. That's how precisely an atomic clock at Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) keeps time—and with record-setting accuracy, according to results published in Nature on Sept. 23. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-world-accurate-atomic-clock.html General Physics Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:20:03 EDT news709393861 Ultrashort laser pulses can be used to generate X-rays. Normally, however, only certain specific frequencies are produced. A team from TU Wien and the University of California San Diego has developed a method that makes it possible to tune the frequency continuously. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ray-guitar-music-frequencies-harmonics.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:40:08 EDT news709201204 Eighty years ago, a massive tsunami devastated parts of Hawaii, Alaska, Washington and Oregon following an earthquake off the coast of Alaska. A Michigan State University team is launching a project to study the underwater fault system where it originated—and whether it still poses a risk today. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-probe-source-massive-tsunami.html Earth Sciences Mon, 14 Sep 2026 23:00:01 EDT news708611337 Within tiny halos of light clinging to a vanishingly thin wisp of optical fiber, scientist Jongmin Lee guides atoms like marbles through a narrow pipe. Rock the fiber and the atoms shift side by side; they just don't fall off. But don't be deceived by the seemingly delicate nature of his experiment. Lee is exploring how to measure motion precisely in rough-and-tumble environments. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-tightly-atoms-enable-power-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:40:10 EDT news708260101 In a new study, a team of astronomers has identified wavelengths of light that could be useful for tracing the chemical evolution of the universe. Using computational modeling to simulate how electrons interact with manganese ions—an element produced during stellar explosions called supernovae—researchers predicted how different environmental conditions could produce observable light known as emission lines. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-manganese-emission-lines-galactic-evolution.html Astronomy Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:00:07 EDT news707394241 Quantum technologies promise secure communication networks, powerful forms of computing and new sensing tools. One of the major challenges, however, is that different quantum systems often operate at different wavelengths of light. Quantum memories, trapped ions and other quantum devices may work best in the ultraviolet or visible range, while long-distance communication over optical fibers works most efficiently at telecommunications wavelengths. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hollow-core-fiber-platform-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:00:02 EDT news706879144 Despite all the advertisements for engagement rings and necklace gifts, natural diamonds are imperfect. Their carbon atoms are arranged in a cubic lattice, but they nonetheless contain several types of crystallographic defects due to impurities that occasionally replace a carbon atom. The most common types of impurities are nitrogen and boron; "Type I" diamonds contain nitrogen impurities, which can be isolated or clustered, at concentrations of up to 1%, and make up about 95% of all natural diamonds. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-diamond-clock-combines-temperature-driven.html General Physics Fri, 28 Aug 2026 10:40:01 EDT news707129885 Planets form from disks of gas and dust around young stars, but the gas needed for growth does not last forever. New observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) now offer a new view of how this gas escapes and how the process changes as young planetary systems develop. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-jwst-reveals-planets.html Astronomy Tue, 25 Aug 2026 17:50:01 EDT news706897742 A research team from Singapore, led by Associate Professor Dawn Tan of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Dr. Luo Xianshu, head of the Silicon Photonics Department at the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (A*STAR IME), has developed a low-loss silicon nitride waveguide that generates broadband light on a chip. By replacing hydrogen with its heavier isotope, deuterium, the team fabricated the low-loss SiN waveguide on an 8-inch wafer using a low-temperature process, demonstrating its potential for large-scale manufacturing and integration with CMOS-compatible semiconductor processes. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-deuterium-enables-chip-waveguides-generate.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:30:01 EDT news706807202 For decades, physicists have used a technique called Mössbauer spectroscopy to peer inside solid materials, revealing fine details of their surroundings by studying how their atomic nuclei absorb and re-emit gamma rays. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-thorium-sites-pave-nuclear-clocks.html General Physics Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:40:04 EDT news706793098 Loughborough University physicists and an international team have demonstrated that a grain-of-rice-sized microchip can be used to produce a spectrum of precisely spaced frequencies of light, which is then converted into multiple high-frequency electromagnetic signals known as millimeter waves. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-rainbow-chip-6g-networks-precision.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 21 Aug 2026 10:00:03 EDT news706524302 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 Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and the University of New South Wales have answered a question that has been around for decades: whether ions of the metal ytterbium can enter certain long-lived, nearly stable states and, if so, for how long. The measured long-lived states may find applications in quantum computers and atomic clocks. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ytterbium-states-sharpen-quantum-atomic.html General Physics Fri, 24 Jul 2026 17:20:02 EDT news704113673 Heavy polar molecules are some of the most sensitive tools physicists have for probing what lies beyond the Standard Model, the theory that describes the particles and forces we know about. But turning that sensitivity into precise, trustworthy measurements has long been held back by one stubborn problem: Stray electric and magnetic fields drown out the tiny signals researchers are actually looking for. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-molecular-clock-transitions-tune-noise.html General Physics Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:00:07 EDT news703934328 More than a century after Albert Einstein first transformed our understanding of gravity, his general theory of relativity continues to withstand ever more demanding experimental tests. Now, an international team led by Ignazio Ciufolini at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has carried out the most precise measurement yet of one of the theory's most subtle predictions: the dragging of spacetime caused by Earth's rotation. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-validate-einstein.html Astronomy Tue, 14 Jul 2026 07:30:01 EDT news703154341 From mobile phones and banking systems to aircraft, ships and emergency services, much of modern life relies on precise timing signals from satellites. Known as the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), satellites carrying atomic clocks transmit time-stamped signals to receivers on Earth. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the best-known GNSS in Australia and the United States, but it is only one of several systems used globally. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-entanglement-ground-satellite.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news702639540 Scientists at NPL have demonstrated the best-reported laser frequency stability achieved with an optical reference cavity operating at room temperature, marking a major advance in ultrastable laser technology. The team's results have been published in Optica. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-room-temperature-laser-stability-cm.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 24 Jun 2026 18:30:01 EDT news701540282 A prototype quantum sensor developed by researchers at Imperial has demonstrated for the first time that a key principle behind next-generation quantum detectors can work under realistic conditions. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-sensor-major-obstacle-dark.html General Physics Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:00:07 EDT news700820402 We think of atomic clocks as the definitive timekeepers. They are famous for being accurate down to the picosecond. Unfortunately, they are still subject to general relativity, so if you put them on a different planet, they will track time slightly faster or slower than on Earth, depending on the planet's gravity. In Mars' case, an atomic clock on its surface is sitting in a slightly shallower gravity well, meaning that time moves slightly faster there. Therefore, as we begin to expand our technological footprint on the red planet, we will need a way to standardize how time is measured there. Dr. Slava Turyshev, a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, proposes just such a framework in a new paper available on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-future-martian-colonists-relativistic-clock.html Space Exploration Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:40:02 EDT news700831681