Light consists of a flow of photons. If two waveguides – cables for light – are side by side, they attract or repel each other. The interaction is due to the optical force, but the effect is usually extremely small. Physicists ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 2, 2017
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Detailing the molecular makeup of materials—from solar cells to organic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and transistors, and medically important proteins—is not always a crystal-clear process.
Nanophysics
Oct 14, 2016
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15
Photons are bizarre: They have no mass, but they do have momentum. And that allows researchers to do counterintuitive things with photons, such as using light to push matter around.
Optics & Photonics
Aug 25, 2016
10
31
Ever since Kepler's observation in the 17th century that sunlight is one of the reasons that the tails of comets to always face away from the sun, it has been understood that light exerts pressure in the direction it propagates. ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 25, 2016
105
503
JILA researchers have designed a microscope instrument so stable that it can accurately measure the 3D movement of individual molecules over many hours—hundreds of times longer than the current limit measured inseconds.
Optics & Photonics
Jul 1, 2015
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755
(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 ...
Microvehicles and other devices that can change shape or move with no power source other than a beam of light may be possible through research led by the University of Pittsburgh. The researchers are investigating polymers ...
Polymers
Nov 8, 2013
2
0
(Phys.org) —Physicists from The Australian National University have shown that three lasers are better than one when it comes to levitating small but visible objects on light, designing an extremely precise sensor by floating ...
General Physics
Oct 30, 2013
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Plants have developed a number of strategies to capture the maximum amount of sunlight through their leaves. As we know from looking at plants on a windowsill, they grow toward the sunlight to be able to generate energy by ...
Biotechnology
May 28, 2013
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1
(Phys.org) —When we look into the distant cosmos, the great majority of the objects we see are galaxies: immense gatherings of stars, planets, gas, dust, and dark matter, showing up in all kind of shapes. This Hubble picture ...
Astronomy
May 13, 2013
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