Optomechanical microcavities are extremely small structures with diameters of less than 10 micrometers (about a tenth of a human hair) inside which light and mechanical vibrations are confined. Thanks to their small size ...
General Physics
Mar 2, 2021
0
2136
Without electronics and photonics, there would be no computers, smartphones, sensors, or information and communication technologies. In the coming years, the new field of phononics may further expand these options. That field ...
Nanomaterials
Mar 1, 2021
0
431
AMOLF physicists have made mechanical vibrations on a chip behave as if they were electrical currents flowing in a magnetic field. Because of their charge, electrons are influenced by magnetic fields, which curve their trajectories. ...
Nanophysics
Feb 4, 2020
0
81
Acacia trees are a prominent feature of the East African savannah. They're also a classic example of the long-standing and complex relationships between plants and insects, in this case acacia ants. The acacias provide food ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 14, 2019
0
78
Indian peafowl crests resonate efficiently and specifically to the same vibration frequencies used in peacock social displays, according to a paper published November 28, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Suzanne ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 28, 2018
0
60
Phonons are discrete units of vibrational energy predicted by quantum mechanics that correspond to collective oscillations of atoms inside a molecule or a crystal. When such vibrations are produced by light interacting with ...
Quantum Physics
Jun 5, 2018
1
581
Imagine a single particle, only one-tenth the diameter of a bacterium, whose miniscule jiggles induce sustained vibrations in an entire mechanical device some 50 times larger. By taking clever advantage of the interplay between ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 9, 2018
1
375
Scientists at Université de Montréal have developed a unique technique to map, on a scale of milliseconds, the elasticity of the components inside a cell.
Cell & Microbiology
Jan 16, 2018
0
33
In the desert, the sand surface can become extremely hot during the day, up to 70ºC. In order to escape these temperatures, some desert lizards adopt a fascinating strategy: They dive a few centimeters under the sand surface ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 15, 2017
0
155
Optomechanical devices, which simultaneously confine light waves and mechanical waves to permit interaction between them, can be used to study fundamental questions in physics and to sense motion similarly to electromechanical ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 10, 2017
0
447
