Fiber-optic cables can produce high-resolution underground maps

How much the ground moves during an earthquake strongly depends on properties of rock and soil just beneath Earth's surface. Modeling studies suggest that ground shaking is amplified in sedimentary basins, on which populated ...

Controlling light with a material three atoms thick

Most of us control light all the time without even thinking about it, usually in mundane ways: we don a pair of sunglasses and put on sunscreen, and close—or open—our window blinds.

Liquid core fibers: A data river runs through them

Data and signals can be transmitted quickly and reliably with glass fibers—as long as the fiber does not break. Strong bending or tensile stress can quickly destroy it. An Empa team has now developed a fiber with a liquid ...

Using deep-sea fiber optic cables to detect earthquakes

Seismologists at Caltech working with optics experts at Google have developed a method to use existing underwater telecommunication cables to detect earthquakes. The technique could lead to improved earthquake and tsunami ...

Capturing free-space optical light for high-speed Wi-Fi

Visible and infrared light can carry more data than radio waves, but has always been confined to a hard-wired, fiber-optic cable. Working with Facebook's Connectivity Lab, a Duke research team has now made a major advance ...

Researchers develop nonlinearity-induced topological insulator

Researchers from the University of Rostock have developed a novel type of nonlinear photonic circuitry in which intense light beams can define their own path and, in doing so, render themselves impervious to external perturbations. ...

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