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. A novel imaging technique used for the first time on a ground-based telescope has helped a UCLA-led team of astronomers to achieve the sharpest-ever measurement of a star's surrounding disk, revealing previously unseen structure. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-telescope-hack-sharper-view-universe.html Astronomy Wed, 22 Oct 2025 13:19:18 EDT news680357953 The ability to move electron-hole pairs—called excitons—in desired directions is important for generating electricity and creating fuels. This happens naturally in photosynthesis, making it a source of inspiration to researchers innovating optoelectronic devices. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-evidence-hyperbolic-exciton-polaritons.html Condensed Matter Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:14:44 EDT news674392475 A new study led by Dai Qing's team from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Javier Abajo from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Spain has shown a gate-tunable nanoscale negative refraction of polaritons in the mid-infrared range through a van der Waals heterostructure of graphene and molybdenum trioxide. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-gate-tunable-nanoscale-negative-refraction-polaritons.html Nanophysics Tue, 14 Feb 2023 09:53:33 EST news595590808 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 was awarded for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy. Inspired by this work, scientists at Institute of Photonic Chips (IPC), University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (USST) have developed an innovative laser scribing pathway for the fabrication of ultrafine graphene patterns. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-two-beam-ultrafast-laser-scribing-ultrafine.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 10 Feb 2023 10:29:51 EST news595247387 Is it possible to drive nanoparticles to orbit below the light diffraction limit using a Gaussian beam? A recent joint research project reported in Nature Communications says yes. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-scientists-ultra-fast-optical-orbiting-nanoparticles.html Quantum Physics Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:28:33 EDT news543151711 Imaging at the scale of a single molecule has gained much recent research interest in diverse fields of molecular biology, physics and nanotechnology. Researchers have used super-resolution microscopy to access subdiffraction resolution, but the technique does not apply for plasmonic nanoparticle dimer structures that form intense areas of field enhancement also known as plasmonic hot spots, due to plasmonic coupling (interaction between two or more plasmonic particles) and the loss of positional information. In a recent study, Matthew J. Horton and a team of interdisciplinary researchers in the NanoPhotonics Centre at the University of Cambridge, Blackett Laboratory at the Imperial College of London, and the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham, U.K., reconstructed the locations of molecules within a plasmonic hotspot with 1-nm precision. https://phys.org/news/2020-01-nanoscopy-plasmonic-nanolens.html Nanophysics Tue, 28 Jan 2020 09:30:01 EST news499340226 Optical microscopes and tweezers can image and manipulate objects at the microscale for applications in cellular and molecular biology. The optical resolution is, however, hampered by the diffraction limit and therefore both microscopes and tweezers are unable to image and manipulate nano-objects directly. Emerging techniques in plasmonic/photonic nanoscopes and nanotweezers aim to achieve nanometer-scale resolution, although high-index material structures can easily cause mechanical and photothermal damage to the nanoscale biospecimens. https://phys.org/news/2019-07-smaller-cells-natural-single-cell-biomagnifier.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 22 Jul 2019 08:00:01 EDT news482998029 Nanostructures and natural patterns have long fascinated researchers in bioinspired materials engineering. Biological samples can be imaged and observed at the nanoscale using sophisticated analytical tools in materials science, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). While imaging methods contribute to the understanding of structures by revealing material properties for biomimetic materials synthesis, they have often done so with the loss of photonic properties inherent to the materials. https://phys.org/news/2019-01-biophotonics-situ-liquid-superlenses-image.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 31 Jan 2019 09:40:04 EST news468147188 Three-dimensional (3-D) printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), can transform a material layer by layer to build an object of interest. 3-D printing is not a new concept, since stereolithography printers have existed since the 1980s. The widespread availability and cost-effectiveness of the technology has allowed a variety of modern applications in biomedical engineering. https://phys.org/news/2019-01-rapid-d.html General Physics Tue, 22 Jan 2019 09:30:03 EST news467363574 An atom-thick film of boron could be the first pure two-dimensional material able to emit visible and near-infrared light by activating its plasmons, according to Rice University scientists. https://phys.org/news/2017-11-borophene-d-plasmonic-material.html Nanomaterials Mon, 20 Nov 2017 09:27:50 EST news430392462 A unique camera that can capture a detailed micron-resolution image from a distance uses a laser and techniques that borrow from holography, microscopy and "Matrix"-style bullet time. https://phys.org/news/2017-04-savi-camera-ditches-lens-distant.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 14 Apr 2017 14:53:48 EDT news411400380 Researchers have introduced a new type of "super-resolution" microscopy and used it to discover the precise walking mechanism behind tiny structures made of DNA that could find biomedical and industrial applications. https://phys.org/news/2017-02-super-resolution-reveals-mechanics-tiny-dna.html Nanophysics Fri, 10 Feb 2017 07:41:29 EST news405934881 According to current estimates, dozens of zettabytes of information will be stored electronically by 2020, which will rely on physical principles that facilitate the use of single atoms or molecules as basic memory cells. This can be done using lasers. However, existing methods of optical storage are limited to the diffraction limit (~500 nm), so the respective recording density is roughly ~1 Gb per square decimeter. https://phys.org/news/2016-12-ultra-high-density-optical-storage-technology.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 01 Dec 2016 06:25:33 EST news399795922 (Phys.org) —A team of researchers working in Australia has used "squeezed light" to enhance the sharpness of images produced using photonic force microscopy. In their paper published in Physical Review Letters, the team describes how they applied a property of quantum mechanics to microscopy to offer resolution enhancement of up to 14 percent. https://phys.org/news/2014-02-photonic-microscopy.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:10:02 EST news312114325 By the time they're two, most children have had respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and suffered symptoms no worse than a bad cold. But for some children, especially premature babies and those with underlying health conditions, RSV can lead to pneumonia and bronchitis – which can require hospitalization and have long-term consequences. https://phys.org/news/2013-12-imaging-technology-mysteries-childhood-disease.html Bio & Medicine Mon, 30 Dec 2013 12:56:34 EST news307630569 Researchers at the University of Michigan have focused microwaves to specks 20 times smaller than their wavelength and five times smaller than other devices have achieved. https://phys.org/news/2008-04-microwave-resolution-wireless-power.html General Physics Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:51:05 EDT news128350265 Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen establish a new law allowing unlimited optical resolution in fluorescence microscopy Max Planck researchers have succeeded in overcoming the law postulated by Ernst Abbe in 1873 for diffraction limited resolution in light microscopes. Stefan Hell and his co-workers have established a new law that promises unlimited resolution in fluorescence microscopy. Future applications range from the imaging of cell interiors to the measuring of lithographic structures in microchip manufacturing, and substantial improvements in the quantification of the reaction kinetics of organic molecules (Phys. Rev. Lett., April 15 and Phys. Rev. Lett. May 6). https://phys.org/news/2005-06-law-resolution-unprecedented-sharpness-fluorescence.html Thu, 02 Jun 2005 11:42:21 EDT news4359