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UrduThe ability to transform sunlight into energy is one of Nature’s more remarkable feats. Scientists understand the basic process of photosynthesis, but many crucial details remain elusive, occurring at dimensions and fleeting time scales long deemed too minuscule to probe.…
Tag: OPTICS
A distinct spin on atomic transport
Work that demonstrates simultaneous control over transport and spin properties of cold atoms establishes a framework for exploring concepts of spintronics and solid-state physics
Machine learning analyses help unlock secrets of stable ‘supercrystal’
By blasting a frustrated mixture of materials with quick pulses of laser light, researchers transformed a superlattice into a supercrystal, a rare, repeating, three-dimensional structural much larger than an ordinary crystal. Using machine learning techniques, they studied the underlying structure of this sample at the nanoscale level before and after applying the laser pulse treatment.
The hidden ability of synchrotron radiation to perform coherent control
Coherent control is a method to manipulate the populations and pathways in matters by light and is currently one of the most attractive research areas in optical physics and photochemistry. Lasers have been considered as unique light source enabling one…
Intelligent metasurface imager and recognizer
The Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber physical systems have opened up possibilities for smart cities and smart homes, and are changing the way for people to live. In this smart era, it is increasingly demanded to remotely monitor people…
Helping quinoa brave the heat
Quinoa is a healthy food many know and love. As its popularity grows, more farmers are interested in planting it. However, the plant doesn’t do well in high temperatures, so plant breeders are trying to help. Many of the current…
Flatland light
Researchers create rewritable optical components for 2D light waves
Spiders and ants inspire a metallic structure that refuses to sink
University of Rochester researchers, inspired by diving bell spiders and rafts of fire ants, have created a metallic structure that is so water repellant, it refuses to sink – no matter how often it is forced into water or how…
Intelligent metasurface imager and recognizer
The Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber physical systems have opened up possibilities for smart cities and smart homes, and are changing the way for people to live. In this smart era, it is increasingly demanded to remotely monitor people…
Helping quinoa brave the heat
Quinoa is a healthy food many know and love. As its popularity grows, more farmers are interested in planting it. However, the plant doesn’t do well in high temperatures, so plant breeders are trying to help. Many of the current…
Flatland light
Researchers create rewritable optical components for 2D light waves
Spiders and ants inspire a metallic structure that refuses to sink
University of Rochester researchers, inspired by diving bell spiders and rafts of fire ants, have created a metallic structure that is so water repellant, it refuses to sink – no matter how often it is forced into water or how…
Commemorating 30 years of optical vortices: A comprehensive review
Vortices are common phenomena that widely exist in nature, from quantum vortices in liquid nitrogen to ocean circulation and typhoon vortices and even to spiral galaxies in the Milky Way. Vortices also exist in optics, the concept of which was…
‘Hot’ electrons in metallic nanostructures — non-thermal carriers or heating?
What happens to a piece of metal when you shine light on it? This question, which has been one of the driving forces of modern physics, gained renewed interest in recent years, with the advances in fabrication of small metallic…
New technology poised to lower cost and expand applications for transparent LED screens
For the first time, transparent conductive circuits made of silver nanowires used to make rigid and flexible transparent displays
New technology poised to lower cost and expand applications for transparent LED screens
For the first time, transparent conductive circuits made of silver nanowires used to make rigid and flexible transparent displays
Light-based ‘tractor beam’ assembles materials at the nanoscale
Modern construction is a precision endeavor. Builders must use components manufactured to meet specific standards — such as beams of a desired composition or rivets of a specific size. The building industry relies on manufacturers to create these components reliably…
Light-based ‘tractor beam’ assembles materials at the nanoscale
Modern construction is a precision endeavor. Builders must use components manufactured to meet specific standards — such as beams of a desired composition or rivets of a specific size. The building industry relies on manufacturers to create these components reliably…
New technology poised to lower cost and expand applications for transparent LED screens
For the first time, transparent conductive circuits made of silver nanowires used to make rigid and flexible transparent displays
Light-based ‘tractor beam’ assembles materials at the nanoscale
Modern construction is a precision endeavor. Builders must use components manufactured to meet specific standards — such as beams of a desired composition or rivets of a specific size. The building industry relies on manufacturers to create these components reliably…
Commemorating 30 years of optical vortices: A comprehensive review
Vortices are common phenomena that widely exist in nature, from quantum vortices in liquid nitrogen to ocean circulation and typhoon vortices and even to spiral galaxies in the Milky Way. Vortices also exist in optics, the concept of which was…
‘Hot’ electrons in metallic nanostructures — non-thermal carriers or heating?
What happens to a piece of metal when you shine light on it? This question, which has been one of the driving forces of modern physics, gained renewed interest in recent years, with the advances in fabrication of small metallic…
Commemorating 30 years of optical vortices: A comprehensive review
Vortices are common phenomena that widely exist in nature, from quantum vortices in liquid nitrogen to ocean circulation and typhoon vortices and even to spiral galaxies in the Milky Way. Vortices also exist in optics, the concept of which was…
‘Hot’ electrons in metallic nanostructures — non-thermal carriers or heating?
What happens to a piece of metal when you shine light on it? This question, which has been one of the driving forces of modern physics, gained renewed interest in recent years, with the advances in fabrication of small metallic…
Porous polymer coatings dynamically control light and heat
New inexpensive, scalable design takes advantage of the optical switchability of porous polymers; could be used for heating, cooling, and lighting buildings, as well as camouflage applications
Bacteria must be ‘stressed out’ to divide
A new study from EPFL scientists has found that bacteria use mechanical forces to divide, along with biological factors. The research, led by the groups of John McKinney and Georg Fantner at EPFL, came after recent studies suggested that bacterial…
JILA team demonstrates model system for distribution of more accurate time signals
JILA physicists and collaborators have demonstrated the first next-generation “time scale” — a system that incorporates data from multiple atomic clocks to produce a single highly accurate timekeeping signal for distribution. The JILA time scale outperforms the best existing hubs…
First demonstration of a 1 petabit per second network node
Gathering the latest advancements in optical fiber telecommunications technology towards practical petabit-class backbone networks
Weaving quantum processors out of laser light
Researchers open a new avenue to quantum computing with a breakthrough experiment: a large-scale quantum processor made entirely of light
Ultrafast particle interactions could help make quantum information devices feasible
Research presents the detection of energy transfer from excited electrons to the crystal lattice on the femtosecond timescale. Knowledge could contribute to the development of materials that prolong the coherence time
Harnessing plasmonics for precision agriculture worldwide
A Moore Inventor Fellowship is supporting a Duke engineer in her quest to develop a small, inexpensive hyperspectral camera
Novel technique helps explain why bright light keeps us awake
Researchers discover a way to make electron microscopy more detailed and precise by visualizing the activation of brain circuits over long distances
AI-based cytometer detects rare cells in blood using magnetic modulation and deep learning
Detection of rare cells in blood and other bodily fluids has numerous important applications including diagnostics, monitoring disease progression and evaluating immune response. For example, detecting and collecting circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in blood can help cancer diagnostics, study their…
Electrochemistry to benefit photonics: Nanotubes can control laser pulses
An international team of scientists led by researchers from the Laboratory of Nanomaterials at the Skoltech Center for Photonics and Quantum Materials (CPQM) has shown that the nonlinear optical response of carbon nanotubes can be controlled by electrochemical gating. This…
Lithuanian researchers developed new technology for precision grinding
By experimenting with tungsten carbide a team of researchers at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania, created an innovative technology allowing to shape the extremely strong and yet easily breakable material into a desirable form.
Smaller than a coin
Nowadays, a mobile phone can do almost anything: take photos or video, send messages, determine its present location, and of course transmit telephone conversations. With these versatile devices, it might even be possible to ascertain a beer’s alcohol content or…
Forward or backward? New pathways for protons in water or methanol
A collaborative ultrafast spectroscopy and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations study shows that proton vacancies in the form of hydroxide/methoxide ions are as relevant for proton transfer between acids and bases as hydrated excess protons (H3O+, H5O2+), thus pointing for…
A cool alternative to air conditioning
A low-cost passive cooling technology made from a polymer film could be used to passively cool buildings in metropolitan areas, avoiding the need for electricity. Modern air conditioning systems consume significant amounts of energy to cool buildings during the daytime,…
Molecular nanocarbons with mechanical bonds
Carbon materials with nano-scale periodicity such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, called “nanocarbons,” are expected to become light, highly functional next-generation materials. There have been demands for precise synthesis methods targeting only at the nanocarbon structure with desired property because…
Salk scientists find way to quantify how well cutting-edge microscopy technique works
New approach helps researchers determine the resolution of cryo-EM, leading to better methods of imaging proteins
Optical imager poised to improve diagnosis and treatment of dry eye disease
New non-invasive instrument images layers of the eye’s protective tear film with speed and precision
Next-generation single-photon source for quantum information science
Kwiat group achieves most efficient single-photon production ever
New metasurface design can control optical fields in three dimensions
A team led by scientists at the University of Washington has designed and tested a 3D-printed metamaterial that can manipulate light with nanoscale precision. As they report in a paper published Oct. 4 in the journal Science Advances , their…
Getting an ‘eel’ for the water: The physics of undulatory human swimming
Researchers led by the University of Tsukuba produce the most detailed motion capture of undulatory swimming and the resulting 3D flow velocity field, which shows promise for new underwater propulsion systems
Spying on topology
An ultra-fast optical way to extract critical information from quantum materials
Tracking the HI virus
Researchers make visible, how AIDS pathogens multiply in the body
A metronome for quantum particles
A new measurement protocol, developed at TU Wien (Vienna), makes it possible to measure the quantum phase of electrons – an important step for attosecond physics.
Product authentication at your fingertips
UC Riverside-led research brings rapid and reversible switching of plasmonic color to solids
A laser, a crystal and molecular structures
New tool uses wider light spectrum to identify molecules
New chip poised to enable hand-held microwave imaging
Researchers shrink bulky imaging systems down to millimeter sized chip that could be used to see through walls or detect tumors