/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. By adding a sound-mediated way to control light to the toolkit of light-based chips, University of Twente researchers have pushed the boundaries of the technology. This opens up the possibility of making atomic clocks small enough to fit in satellites and drones, helping them navigate without GPS. /news/2025-05-paves-gps-free.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 01 May 2025 11:20:01 EDT news665315726 Optical fibers are fundamental components in modern science and technology due to their inherent advantages, providing an efficient and secure medium for applications such as internet communication and big data transmission. Compared with single-mode fibers (SMFs), multimode fibers (MMFs) can support a much larger number of guided modes (~103 to ~104), offering the attractive advantage of high-capacity information and image transportation within the diameter of a hair. This capability has positioned MMFs as a critical tool in fields such as quantum information and micro-endoscopy. /news/2025-02-fiber-image-transmission-technology-minimally.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:44:04 EST news658151041 The more than 1.2 million km of fiber-optic cables that crisscross the planet carry the world's phone calls, internet signals and data. But this summer, researchers published the eerie sounds of blue and fin whales detected by a fiber-optic cable on the west coast of Svalbard—a first. /news/2023-01-fiber-optic-cable-networks-low-cost-real-time.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 12 Jan 2023 15:30:05 EST news592759801 As nations meet in Uruguay to negotiate a new Global Plastics Treaty, marine and forensic scientists publish new results this week that reveal the discovery of synthetic plastic fibers in air, seawater, sediment and sea ice sampled in the Antarctic Weddell Sea. The field research was undertaken during an expedition to discover Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance. The results are published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. /news/2022-11-synthetic-fibers-antarctic-air-seawater.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 23 Nov 2022 16:14:03 EST news588442441 Three scientists jointly won this year's Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for proving that tiny particles could retain a connection with each other even when separated, a phenomenon once doubted but now being explored for potential real-world applications such as encrypting information. /news/2022-10-scientists-nobel-prize-physics-quantum.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 04 Oct 2022 05:56:48 EDT news584081796 Quantum computing technology could have notable advantages over classical computing technology, including a faster speed and the ability to tackle more complex problems. In recent years, some researchers have also been exploring the possible establishment of a "quantum internet," a network that would allow quantum devices to exchange information, just like classical computing devices exchange information today. /news/2022-08-entanglement-quantum-memory-km.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 16 Aug 2022 07:00:01 EDT news579776349 A network in which data transmission is perfectly secure against hacking? If physicists have their way, this will become reality one day with the help of the quantum mechanical phenomenon known as entanglement. For entangled particles, the rule is: If you measure the state of one of the particles, then you automatically know the state of the other. It makes no difference how far away the entangled particles are from each other. This is an ideal state of affairs for transmitting information over long distances in a way that renders eavesdropping impossible. /news/2022-07-entanglement-quantum-memories.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 07 Jul 2022 10:10:01 EDT news576407005 By using quantum key distribution (QKD), quantum cryptographers can share information via theoretic secure keys between remote peers through physics-based protocols. The laws of quantum physics dictate that photons carrying signals cannot be amplified or relayed through classical optical methods to maintain quantum security. The resulting transmission loss of the channel can limit its achievable distance to form a huge barrier to build large-scale quantum secure networks. In a new report now published in Nature Photonics, Shuang Wang and a research team in quantum information, cryptology and quantum physics in China developed an experimental QKD system to tolerate a channel loss beyond 140 dB across a secure distance of 833.8 km to set a new record for fiber-based quantum key distribution. Using the optimized four-phase twin-field protocol and high quality setup, they achieved secure key rates that were more than two orders of magnitude greater than previous records across similar distances. The results form a breakthrough to build reliable and terrestrial quantum networks across a scale of 1000 km. /news/2022-01-twin-field-quantum-key-qkd-km.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 24 Jan 2022 10:40:01 EST news562240601 Scientists from DTU have shown that a Fano laser, a new type of microscopic laser, has fundamental advantages compared to other types of lasers. The discovery can be important for many future applications, such as integrated photonics, interfacing of electronics and photonics, and optical sensors. /news/2021-08-physics-highest-coherence-microscopic-lasers.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 27 Aug 2021 11:53:45 EDT news549284019 Many kids dream of growing up to be astronauts; but the downside of spending extended amounts of time in low gravity is that astronauts' muscles tend to shrink and weaken through disuse. Now, researchers from Japan have identified a protein that affects how muscles respond to space flight. /news/2021-07-antioxidative-stress-muscle-tissue-space.html Molecular & Computational biology Thu, 08 Jul 2021 13:25:11 EDT news544969496 A team of physicists, led by Dr. David Phillips from the University of Exeter, have pioneered a new way in which to control light that has been scrambled by passage through a single hair-thin strand of optical fiber. These ultra-thin fibers hold much promise for the next generation of medical endoscopes—enabling high-resolution imaging deep inside the body at the tip of a needle. /news/2021-06-imaging-needle.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Optics & Photonics Fri, 18 Jun 2021 10:11:31 EDT news543229888 The Cambridge Research Laboratory of Toshiba Europe today announced the first demonstration of quantum communication over optical fibers exceeding 600 km in length. The breakthrough will enable long-distance, quantum-secured information transfer between metropolitan areas, and is a major advance towards building the future quantum internet. /news/2021-06-quantum-optical-fibers-exceeding-km.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 08 Jun 2021 10:15:04 EDT news542366099 An international group of researchers has developed a new technique that could be used to make more efficient low-cost light-emitting materials which are flexible and can be printed using ink-jet techniques. /news/2021-06-atom-swapping-ultra-bright-flexible.html Nanomaterials Mon, 07 Jun 2021 16:35:12 EDT news542302506 The world is one step closer to ultimately secure conference calls, thanks to a collaboration between Quantum Communications Hub researchers and their German colleagues, enabling a quantum-secure conversation to take place between four parties simultaneously. /news/2021-06-quantum-key-conference.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 04 Jun 2021 14:00:02 EDT news542020340 Bone tools found in a well-known Kimberley cave site are more than 35,000 years old and among the oldest discovered in Australia, according to new research. /news/2021-04-bone-tools-kimberley-region-oldest.html Archaeology Wed, 07 Apr 2021 07:45:05 EDT news537000302 Households in Europe and North America are flooding the oceans with plastic pollution simply by washing their clothes, scientists said Tuesday after research found the majority of microplastics in Arctic seawater were polyester fibres. /news/2021-01-arctic-microplastic-pollution.html Environment Tue, 12 Jan 2021 12:02:00 EST news529675311 QUT Professor Ken Ostrikov from the School of Chemistry and Â鶹ÒùÔºics and QUT Centre for Materials Science said the new material could be used to develop new transistor devices for electronics and photodetectors for such applications as fibre-optic communication systems and environmental sensing. /news/2020-11-plasma-developed-material-fundamental-internet.html Condensed Matter Plasma Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 26 Nov 2020 10:08:05 EST news525607680 During space-communication researchers require high-space intersatellite data transfer connectivity for deep-space missions while monitoring Earth. The technology is fundamentally influenced by available transmission power and the aperture size of receiver sensitivity. The transition from radio-frequency links to optical links is now under consideration due to its ability to significantly reduce the channel loss caused by diffraction during communication. In a widely used approach, researchers can develop power-efficient formats along with nanowire-based photon-counting receivers cooled to a few Kelvins to function at speeds below 1-Gigabytes per second (Gb/s). In order to achieve data transfer at data rates of multi-GB/s (as expected for future space applications) the systems will have to rely on pre-amplified receivers together with advanced signal generation and processing techniques, including fibre communications. /news/2020-09-space-photon-per-bit-near-noiseless-phase-sensitive-amplification.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 17 Sep 2020 09:30:02 EDT news519553069 The world is one step closer to having a totally secure internet and an answer to the growing threat of cyber-attacks, thanks to a team of international scientists who have created a unique prototype which could transform how we communicate online. /news/2020-09-revolutionary-quantum-breakthrough-paves-safer.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 02 Sep 2020 14:00:03 EDT news518249550 A team of physicists at the University of Bristol has developed the first integrated photon source with the potential to deliver large-scale quantum photonics. /news/2020-05-photon-discovery-major-large-scale-quantum.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 20 May 2020 11:16:18 EDT news509192173 Light is emerging as the leading vehicle for information processing in computers and telecommunications as our need for energy efficiency and bandwidth increases. /news/2020-05-fantastic-path-faster-smaller-processors.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 15 May 2020 10:06:45 EDT news508755973 Three-dimensional (3-D) nanoprinting of freeform optical waveguides also known as photonic wire bonding can efficiently couple between photonic chips to greatly simplify optical system assembly. The shape and trajectory of photonic wire bonds offers a key advantage as an alternative to conventional optical assembly techniques that rely on technically complex and expensive high-precision alignment. In a new study now published on Nature: Light, Science & Applications, Matthias Blaicher, Muhammed Rodlin Billah and a research team in photonics, quantum electronics and microstructure technology in Germany, demonstrated optical communication engines. The device relied on photonic wire bonding to connect arrays of silicon photonic modulators to lasers and single-mode fibers. They engineered the photonic wire bonds onto the chips in the lab using advanced 3-D lithography to efficiently connect a variety of photonic integration platforms. The scientists simplified the assembly of advanced photonic multistep modules to transform a variety of applications ranging from high-speed communications to ultra-fast signal processing, optical sensing, and quantum information processing. /news/2020-05-hybrid-multi-chip-optical-d-nanolithography.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 14 May 2020 09:30:01 EDT news508587188 More than 99% of our Internet data is carried by optical fibers but with our data demands increasing, we are pushing our existing fiber networks to their limits. One way to increase the capacity of fibers is to transmit signals with a higher power, but this is usually avoided as transmissions can become distorted. To help with this, researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology have developed a new mathematical tool to better explore how light propagates through optical fibers in this high power, or nonlinear, regime. This new tool could help in the design of the next generation of data transmission optical fiber networks. Results are published in Nature Communications. /news/2020-02-illuminating-numerical-propagation-nonlinear-optical.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 28 Feb 2020 09:15:09 EST news502103707 A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in China has succeeded in sending entangled quantum memories over a 50-kilometer coiled fiber cable. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes several experiments they conducted involving entangling quantum memory over long distances, the challenges they overcame, and problems still to be addressed. /news/2020-02-quantum-memories-entangled-kilometer-cable.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 13 Feb 2020 08:30:01 EST news500800329 New research shows that an increasing number of countries are publishing ecosystem accounts, helping to embed nature in economic and financial decisions. /news/2020-01-countries-publishing-ecosystem-accounts-environment.html Environment Fri, 31 Jan 2020 07:14:30 EST news499677268 Curtis Menyuk, professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), has collaborated with a team directed by Philip Russell at the Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPI) in Erlangen, Germany, to gain insight into naturally-occurring molecular systems using optical solitons in lasers. Optical solitons are packets of light that are bound together and move at a constant speed without changing shape. This work, published in Nature Communications, was initiated while Menyuk was a Humboldt Senior Research Fellow in the Russell Division at MPI. /news/2020-01-optical-solitons-lasers-explore-naturally-occurring.html General Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 10 Jan 2020 16:50:24 EST news497897419 The existing notion that soft tissue architectures and native proteins can be preserved across geological time is controversial since methods of such preservation remain to be investigated and well-defined. In a new study, Elizabeth M. Boatman and colleagues at the departments of Engineering, Paleontology, Biological Science, Materials and Engineering and the Advanced Light Source in the U.S., tested crosslinking mechanisms for preserved tissue architecture. They used two non-enzymatic, structural protein mechanisms, Fenton chemistry and glycation to demonstrate their possible contributions to preserve blood vessel structures recovered from the cortical bone of Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex; USNM 555 000, formerly MOR 555). They demonstrated the endogeneity (randomness) of the fossil vessel tissues and the presence of type I collagen in the outermost vessel layers using imaging, diffraction, spectroscopy and immunohistochemistry. /news/2019-11-mechanisms-soft-tissue-protein-tyrannosaurus.html Biochemistry Tue, 12 Nov 2019 09:31:34 EST news492773460 An international team of scientists from Australia, Japan and the United States has produced a prototype of a large-scale quantum processor made of laser light. /news/2019-10-quantum-processors-laser.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 17 Oct 2019 14:00:03 EDT news490514059 A team of scientists from the University of Antwerp (Belgium), Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) and the University of Hasselt (Belgium) have reported on bacteria that power themselves using electricity and can send electrical currents over long distances through highly conductive power lines. Centimeter-long bacteria from the seafloor contain a conductive fiber network that operates in a way comparable to the copper wiring that used to transport electricity. The highly conductive fibers enable a completely new interface between biology and electronics, providing a prospect for new materials and technology. /news/2019-09-cable-bacteria-electrical-wires.html Cell & Microbiology Molecular & Computational biology Wed, 11 Sep 2019 10:06:46 EDT news487415191 The quantum internet promises absolutely tap-proof communication and powerful distributed sensor networks for new science and technology. However, because quantum information cannot be copied, it is not possible to send this information over a classical network. Quantum information must be transmitted by quantum particles, and special interfaces are required for this. The Innsbruck-based experimental physicist Ben Lanyon, who was awarded the Austrian START Prize in 2015 for his research, is investigating these important intersections of a future quantum Internet. /news/2019-08-entanglement-km-optical-fiber.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 29 Aug 2019 10:44:23 EDT news486294257