Single-atom tractor beams power chemical catalysis

By trapping light into tiny gaps only a few atoms wide, a team from the NanoPhotonics Center at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge has magnified optical forces a thousand-fold, strong enough to force ...

Halting a wave in its tracks

Topological ideas have recently taken the center stage of modern electromagnetics. Typical topological photonic systems are based on nonreciprocal materials, a class of materials that enables asymmetric light–matter interactions. ...

A new method for exploring the nano-world

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) and Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) in Erlangen present a large step forward in the characterization of nanoparticles. They used a special ...

Harnessing the powers of light to operate computers

It is said that light is the source of life, and in the near future, it will possibly form the basis of our everyday personal computing needs too. Recently, researchers from the University of Tsukuba have harnessed specific ...

Microdrones with light-driven nanomotors

A hand-held laser pointer produces no noticeable recoil forces when it is "fired"—even though it emits a directed stream of light particles. The reason for this is its very large mass compared to the very small recoil impulses ...

An optical chip improved by light

Technology is increasingly moving towards miniaturization and energy efficiency. This also applies to electronic chips. Light, and optics more broadly, are functional in making compact and portable chips. Researchers from ...

Quantum algorithms bring ions to a standstill

Laser beams can do more than just heat things up; they can cool them down too. That is nothing new for physicists who have devoted themselves to precision spectroscopy and the development of optical atomic clocks. But what ...

Chip-based optical tweezers levitate nanoparticles in a vacuum

Researchers have created tiny chip-based optical tweezers that can be used to optically levitate nanoparticles in a vacuum. Optical tweezers—which employ a tightly focused laser beam to hold living cells, nanoparticles ...

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