Engineers efficiently 'mix' light at the nanoscale

The race to make computer components smaller and faster and use less power is pushing the limits of the properties of electrons in a material. Photonic systems could eventually replace electronic ones, but the fundamentals ...

A prison for photons in a diamond-like photonic crystal

Scientists from the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente in the Netherlands have designed a novel type of reso­nant cavity that serves as a prison for photons. The cavity confines light in all three ...

A low-energy optical circuit for a new era of technology

Optical circuits use light instead of electricity, making them faster and more energy-efficient than electrical systems. Scientists at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne have developed a first building-block for photonic ...

New design surpasses the coherent interaction limit

Coherent light-matter interaction at the single photon level is a long-standing goal for quantum operations. To reach such strong coupling regime, previous studies mainly focus on improving the quality (Q) factor and reducing ...

Scientists develop new hybrid energy transfer system

Scientists from the University of Southampton, in collaboration with the Universities of Sheffield and Crete, have developed a new hybrid energy transfer system, which mimics the processes responsible for photosynthesis.

Seeing a photon without absorbing it

Light is of fundamental importance. It allows us to see the world around us and record pictures of our environment. It enables communication over long distances through optical fibers. All current methods of detecting light ...

Tiny sensors put the squeeze on light

Microelectromechanical systems, known as MEMS, are ubiquitous in modern military systems such as gyroscopes for navigation, tiny microphones for lightweight radios, and medical biosensors for assessing the wounded. Such applications ...

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