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. Researchers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and CNSI (California NanoSystems Institute), led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan, introduced a snapshot 3D image projection system that integrates a digital encoder with a passive diffractive optical decoder, jointly optimized end-to-end through deep learning. The hybrid architecture projects multiple distinct images onto closely spaced axial planes in a single shot, marking a significant step toward compact, high-fidelity volumetric display technologies. The research is published in the journal Light: Science & Applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-layer-3d-images-shot.html Optics & Photonics Sun, 14 Jun 2026 08:20:01 EDT news700642019 A new type of hologram technology has been developed that uses the motion of light as a key, revealing information only under specific conditions. This is gaining attention as a novel approach that can simultaneously overcome the limitations of existing optical communication and security technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-hologram-technology-key-enables-hard.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 06 May 2026 09:20:01 EDT news697276861 Light is an unusually rich carrier of information. Its direction of travel, wavelength, and polarization can all be used to encode signals or images. Yet controlling these properties independently remains difficult, especially when light can enter a device from either side. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-mbius-surface.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 04 Mar 2026 10:00:06 EST news691838582 Many cutting-edge technologies, ranging from augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to LiDAR (light detection and ranging) systems, rely on components that enable the precise control of light. These components include so-called spatial light modulators (SLMs), systems that dynamically adjust the position of a light wave within its cycle (i.e., phase), as well as its amplitude or direction across several pixels. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-metasurface-based-slm-ar-vr.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 27 Feb 2026 11:30:02 EST news691338427 Researchers from the University of Tartu Institute of Physics have developed a novel method for enhancing the quality of three-dimensional images by increasing the depth of focus in holograms fivefold after recording, using computational imaging techniques. The technology enables improved performance of 3D holographic microscopy under challenging imaging conditions and facilitates the study of complex biological structures. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-hologram-method-boosts-3d-image.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 13 Feb 2026 13:52:27 EST news690213122 A research team from the High Magnetic Field Laboratory of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with collaborators from Anhui University, ShanghaiTech University, and the University of New Hampshire, has demonstrated the first electrically controllable generation of hopfions—three-dimensional topological solitons—in a solid-state magnetic system. The results are published online in Nature Materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-electrically-3d-magnetic-hopfions-chiral.html Condensed Matter Fri, 13 Feb 2026 12:40:03 EST news690206824 It's a plot device beloved by science fiction: our entire universe might be a simulation running on some advanced civilization's supercomputer. But new research from UBC Okanagan has mathematically proven this isn't just unlikely—it's impossible. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-mathematical-proof-debunks-idea-universe.html General Physics Thu, 30 Oct 2025 12:22:32 EDT news681045742 The terahertz (THz) band of the electromagnetic spectrum holds immense promise for next-generation technologies, including high-speed wireless communication, advanced encryption, and medical imaging. However, manipulating THz waves has long been a technical challenge, since these frequencies interact weakly with most natural materials. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-electrically-tunable-metasurface-real-thz.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 29 Sep 2025 12:21:04 EDT news678367261 Holography—the science of recording and reconstructing light fields—has long been central to imaging, data storage, and encryption. Traditional holographic systems, however, rely on bulky optical setups and interference experiments, making them impractical for compact or integrated devices. Computational methods such as the Gerchberg–Saxton (GS) algorithm have simplified hologram design by eliminating the need for physical interference patterns, but these approaches typically produce scalar holograms with uniform polarization, limiting the amount of information that can be encoded. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-ultrathin-metasurface-enables-high-efficiency.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 21 Aug 2025 12:53:07 EDT news674999577 Light can behave in very unexpected ways when you squeeze it into small spaces. In a paper in the journal Science, Mark Brongersma, a professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University, and doctoral candidate Skyler Selvin describe the novel way they have used sound to manipulate light that has been confined to gaps only a few nanometers across—allowing the researchers exquisite control over the color and intensity of light mechanically. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-nanodevice-sculpt-paving-displays-imaging.html Nanophysics Thu, 31 Jul 2025 14:00:05 EDT news673170541 Exploring the BTZ black hole in (2+1)-dimensional gravity took me down a fascinating rabbit hole, connecting ideas I never expected—like black holes and topological phases in quantum matter! When I swapped the roles of space and time in the equations (it felt like turning my map upside down when I was lost in a new city), I discovered an interior version of the solution existing alongside the familiar exterior, each with its own thermofield double state. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-space-btz-black-hole.html General Physics Thu, 31 Jul 2025 09:10:04 EDT news673171327 Using 3D holograms polished by artificial intelligence, researchers introduce a lean, eyeglass-like 3D headset that they say is a significant step toward passing the "Visual Turing Test." https://phys.org/news/2025-07-3d-headset-holograms-ai-lifelike.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:44:08 EDT news672918242 Rapidly increasing data traffic is placing ever greater demands on the capacity of communication systems. In an article titled "Ultra-broadband optical amplification using nonlinear integrated waveguides" published in Nature, a research team from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, introduce a new amplifier that enables the transmission of 10 times more data per second than those of current fiber-optic systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-amplifier-bandwidth-super-lasers.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 09 Apr 2025 11:00:28 EDT news663406261 Researchers at The University of Manchester's National Graphene Institute have introduced a new class of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces capable of dynamically shaping terahertz (THz) and millimeter (mm) waves. Detailed in a paper published in Nature Communications, this breakthrough overcomes long-standing technological barriers and could pave the way for next-generation 6G wireless technologies and non-invasive imaging systems. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-graphene-based-programmable-surfaces-advance.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 27 Mar 2025 11:00:45 EDT news662292041 Computational microscopy is vital in biomedicine and materials science. Traditional methods struggle with optical aberrations, noise interference, and differences between physical models and real-world imaging, reducing the resolution and accuracy. They rely on pixel-level optimization, which fails to maintain high-quality imaging in complex environments. Therefore, developing a precise and stable computational imaging approach has become a research focus. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-high-fidelity-microscopy-stable-features.html Biotechnology Mon, 10 Mar 2025 15:47:03 EDT news660840422 A recent study in Physical Review Letters explores quantum effects on black hole thermodynamics and geometry, focusing on extending two classical inequalities into the quantum regime. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-classical-black-hole-inequalities-quantum.html General Physics Sat, 23 Nov 2024 10:50:01 EST news651502238 Researchers from Seoul National University College of Engineering announced they have developed an optical design technology that dramatically reduces the volume of cameras with a folded lens system utilizing "metasurfaces," a next-generation nano-optical device. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-ultra-compact-optical-virtual-augmented.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:35:52 EST news651335748 An Aston University researcher has developed a new technique using light that could revolutionize non-invasive medical diagnostics and optical communication. The research showcases how a type of light called the orbital angular momentum (OAM) can be harnessed to improve imaging and data transmission through skin and other biological tissues. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-optical-technique-orbital-angular-momentum.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 25 Oct 2024 13:51:04 EDT news649083061 A study by researchers from the Institute of Applied Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, published in Nature Photonics, presents a new method for non-invasive high-resolution imaging through highly scattering media. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-image-holographic-wavefront-fast-versatile.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 18 Oct 2024 05:00:01 EDT news648399213 Metasurface technology is an advanced optical technology that is thinner, lighter, and more capable of precisely controlling light through nanometer-sized artificial structures than conventional technologies. KAIST researchers have overcome the limitations of existing metasurface technologies and successfully designed a Janus metasurface capable of perfectly controlling asymmetric light transmission. By applying this technology, they have also proposed an innovative method to significantly enhance security by only decoding information under specific conditions. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-janus-metasurface-technology-optical-responses.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 15 Oct 2024 16:34:17 EDT news648228853 A recent study has unveiled a transformative nonlinear optical metasurface technology. This new technology, characterized by structures smaller than the wavelength of light, paves the way for significant advancements in next-generation communication technologies, including quantum light sources and medical diagnostic devices. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nonlinear-optical-metasurface-electrically-tunable.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 27 Sep 2024 12:00:01 EDT news646656846 Researchers have developed a new smartphone-based digital holographic microscope that enables precision 3D measurements. The highly portable and inexpensive microscope could help bring 3D measurement capabilities to a broader range of applications, including educational uses and point-of-care diagnostics in resource-limited settings. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-smartphone-based-microscope-rapidly-reconstructs.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 11 Sep 2024 17:19:03 EDT news645293941 Coherent X-ray imaging has emerged as a powerful tool for studying both nanoscale structures and dynamics in condensed matter and biological systems. The nanometric resolution together with chemical sensitivity and spectral information render X-ray imaging a powerful tool to understand processes such as catalysis, light harvesting or mechanics. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-method-captures-stochastic-dynamics-coherent.html Nanophysics Wed, 04 Sep 2024 17:05:03 EDT news644688301 Imagine manipulating light with ultra-thin, flat sheets instead of bulky lenses and mirrors. That's the promise of metasurfaces, a nanostructure technology that can twist and bend light in ways never before possible. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-metasurfaces-tiny-tech-big-potential.html Nanophysics Wed, 04 Sep 2024 15:58:43 EDT news644684321 Neutron stars are the remnants of old stars that have run out of nuclear fuel and undergone a supernova explosion and a subsequent gravitational collapse. Although their collisions—or binary mergers—are rare, when they do occur, these violent events can perturb spacetime itself, producing gravitational waves detectable on Earth from hundreds of millions of light years away. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-neutron-star-mergers-illuminate-mysteries.html Astronomy Wed, 14 Aug 2024 11:35:04 EDT news642854101 Metalens is a kind of optical metasurface composed of metaatoms for manipulating incoming light's amplitude, phase, and polarization. Unlike traditional refractive lenses, metalens can modulate the wavefront from plane to spherical at an interface. It has garnered widespread attention due to its novel physical properties and promising potential applications. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-metalenses-phase-characterization-multi-distance.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 07 Aug 2024 10:10:01 EDT news642243897 Computer-generated holography (CGH) provides an approach to digitally modulate a given wavefront. This technology, partly inherited from optical holography and partly advanced by the progress of computing technology, has become an emerging focus of academia and industry. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-optimization-inverse-problem-generated-holography.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 05 Aug 2024 11:45:09 EDT news642077090 Recently, a research team established a comprehensive procedure for isolating primary mouse hepatocytes and maintaining them in long-term culture with significant amplification in a two-dimensional (2D) environment. The team was led by Prof. Li Fei and Zheng Hairong from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with Prof. Mao Yilei and Yang Huayu from the Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) Hospital, https://phys.org/news/2024-07-procedure-isolating-primary-mouse-hepatocytes.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 23 Jul 2024 16:54:03 EDT news640972441 A research team from Japan, including scientists from Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE 6501, Hitachi), Kyushu University, RIKEN, and HREM Research Inc. (HREM), has achieved a major breakthrough in the observation of magnetic fields at unimaginably small scales. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-scientists-visualize-magnetic-fields-atomic.html Condensed Matter Fri, 05 Jul 2024 09:01:04 EDT news639388861 Scientists have advanced metasurface technology by developing a new design that simultaneously projects holographic images and creates special diffraction patterns with ten-fold rotation symmetry of quasicrystal. This ultra-thin material merges the unique properties of quasicrystals with light manipulation techniques. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-quasicrystal-metasurface-holographic-images.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 14 Jun 2024 12:42:44 EDT news637587762