The laser is the perfect light source—as long as it is provided with energy, it generates light of a specific, well-defined colour. However, it is also possible to create its opposite—an object that perfectly absorbs ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 5, 2019
0
101
A miniature prison for photons—that is the nanocavity discovered by scientists of the University of Twente. It is an extremely small cavity surrounded by an optical crystal, a structure of pores etched in two perpendicular ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 1, 2019
0
164
We all know bubbles from soapy baths or sodas. These bubbles of everyday experience on Earth are up to a few inches across, and consist of a thin film of liquid enclosing a small volume of air or other gas. In space, however, ...
Astronomy
Feb 28, 2019
4
247
Researchers at Duke University have discovered that a perfect absorber of electromagnetic waves they described in a 2017 paper can easily be tweaked into a sort of "time-reversed laser" known as a coherent perfect absorber ...
Optics & Photonics
Feb 15, 2019
2
832
Optical circuits are set to revolutionize the performance of many devices. Not only are they 10 to 100 times faster than electronic circuits, but they also consume a lot less power. Within these circuits, light waves are ...
Nanophysics
Feb 12, 2019
1
72
Electrons are not just little spheres, bouncing through a material like a rubber ball. The laws of quantum physics tell us that electrons behave like waves. In some materials, these electron waves can take on rather complicated ...
Quantum Physics
Dec 21, 2018
0
180
Scientists have long known that synthetic materials—called metamaterials—can manipulate electromagnetic waves such as visible light to make them behave in ways that cannot be found in nature. That has led to breakthroughs ...
Quantum Physics
Dec 17, 2018
0
661
By using light waves instead of electric current to transmit data, photonic chips—circuits for light—have advanced fundamental research in many areas from timekeeping to telecommunications. But for many applications, ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 28, 2018
0
81
Electronic systems using light waves instead of voltage signals is advantageous, as electromagnetic light waves oscillate at petaherz frequency. This means that future computers could operate at speeds 1 million times faster ...
Nanophysics
Nov 27, 2018
0
219
Reseachers at ETH Zurich have developed a modulator with which data transmitted via millimetre waves can be directly converted into light pulses for optical fibres. This could make covering the "last mile" up to the internet ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 21, 2018
1
40
