/ 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. A photonics research group co-led by Gregor Weihs of the University of Innsbruck has developed a new technique for generating multi-photon states from quantum dots that overcomes the limitations of conventional approaches. This has immediate applications in secure quantum key distribution protocols, where it can enable simultaneous secure communication with different parties. /news/2025-08-quantum-dot-technique-multi-photon.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 11 Aug 2025 16:22:03 EDT news674148121 As technology advances, photonic systems are gaining ground over traditional electronics, using light to transmit and process information more efficiently. One such optical system is laser beam scanning (LBS), where laser beams are rapidly steered to scan, sense, or display information. /news/2025-07-rgb-multiplexer-based-lithium-niobate.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:01:17 EDT news672937273 Colloidal halide perovskite nanocrystals have emerged as strong candidates for light-emitting diodes and solar applications due to their excellent photoluminescent properties. However, instability and lead toxicity limit their widespread adoption. Alloying with tin is seen as a promising strategy to address these issues, enabling broader spectral tunability and improved ambient stability. /news/2025-06-revealing-hidden-enemies-perovskite-materials.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 13 Jun 2025 07:45:03 EDT news669019501 Resonantly tunable quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are high-performance laser light sources for a wide range of spectroscopy applications in the mid-infrared (MIR) range. Their high brilliance enables minimal measurement times for more precise and efficient characterization processes and can be used, for example, in chemical and pharmaceutical industries, medicine or security technology. Until now, however, the production of QCL modules has been relatively complex and expensive. /news/2025-06-semi-automated-efficient-quantum-cascade.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Tue, 03 Jun 2025 17:00:03 EDT news668188801 Konstantin Vodopyanov, a professor at the College of Sciences and CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics, recently co-authored a study published in the journal Optica. This research examines electro-optic sampling (EOS), a technique that advances fields such as quantum physics, molecular spectroscopy and biomedical sensing. /news/2025-05-electro-optic-sampling-insights-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 15 May 2025 16:57:03 EDT news666547021 In recent research published in Optics & Laser Technology and Infrared Â鶹ÒùÔºics & Technology, a research team led by Prof. Cheng Tingqing at the Hefei Institutes of Â鶹ÒùÔºical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has introduced a novel low-thermal-effect gradient-doped crystal to tame thermal effects and improve the brightness of high-power end-pumped Nd:YAG lasers. /news/2025-05-harnessing-gradient-doping-boosts-ndyag.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 15 May 2025 16:10:07 EDT news666544201 Researchers have developed a high-speed electro-optic switch that is energy-efficient, has low crosstalk and works across a broad bandwidth. Made using a scalable, chip-friendly process, this switch could enhance data capacity in optical networks and data centers by improving signal routing and switching. /news/2025-03-high-energy-efficient-electro-optic.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:52:03 EST news660315121 A research team led by Professor Takayuki Hoshino of Nagoya University's Graduate School of Engineering in Japan has demonstrated the world's smallest shooting game by manipulating nanoparticles in real time, resulting in a game that is played with particles approximately 1 billionth of a meter in size. /news/2025-02-world-smallest-video-game-nanoscale.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 26 Feb 2025 11:41:03 EST news659792461 From integrated photonics to quantum information science, the ability to control light with electric fields—a phenomenon known as the electro-optic effect—supports vital applications such as light modulation and frequency transduction. These components rely on nonlinear optical materials, in which light waves can be manipulated by applying electric fields. /news/2025-02-illuminates-path-superior-electro-optic.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Tue, 25 Feb 2025 16:11:08 EST news659722252 Researchers have developed a novel experimental platform to measure the electric fields of light trapped between two mirrors with a sub-cycle precision. /news/2025-02-invisible-electro-optic-cavities.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:44:22 EST news658629855 Qubits—the fundamental units of quantum information—drive entire tech sectors. Among them, superconducting qubits could be instrumental in building a large-scale quantum computer, but they rely on electrical signals and are difficult to scale. /news/2025-02-physicists-fully-optical-readout-superconducting.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:03:05 EST news658486981 A research team has discovered that achiral hard banana-shaped particles can spontaneously form exotic structures like skyrmions and blue phase III phases. Skyrmions are tiny vortex-like structures found in various condensed-matter systems, such as helical ferromagnets and liquid crystals. Blue phase III is an amorphous phase of liquid crystals that possesses strong optical activity. Achiral particles are particles that can be superimposed on their mirror image. The team's findings have potential applications in photonics and memory devices. /news/2025-01-achiral-hard-banana-particles-skyrmions.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Mon, 27 Jan 2025 11:48:03 EST news657200881 In the world of modern optics, frequency combs are invaluable tools. These devices act as rulers for measuring light, enabling breakthroughs in telecommunications, environmental monitoring, and even astrophysics. But building compact and efficient frequency combs has been a challenge—until now. /news/2025-01-compact-gen-photonics.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 22 Jan 2025 11:00:01 EST news656756627 A research team led by Prof. Li Chuanfeng from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has achieved a breakthrough in quantum photonics. They developed an on-chip photonic simulator capable of simulating arbitrary-range coupled frequency lattices with gauge potential. This study was published in Â鶹ÒùÔºical Review Letters. /news/2024-12-frequency-photonic-simulator-barriers.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 27 Dec 2024 07:12:17 EST news654505930 Monitoring electrical signals in biological systems helps scientists understand how cells communicate, which can aid in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions like arrhythmia and Alzheimer's. /news/2024-12-wireless-antennas-harness-decode-cellular.html Cell & Microbiology Biotechnology Fri, 20 Dec 2024 14:00:01 EST news653907601 Photonics is the study of the generation, detection, and manipulation of light waves in the form of photons. One interesting property of light is polarization, defined by its electric and magnetic fields oscillating in any direction perpendicular to the direction of propagation. This oscillation is not restricted to one plane either. Circular polarization occurs when light waves have electric fields that follow a spiral trajectory along the direction of propagation. /news/2024-11-spiral-ladder-tool-precision-polarization.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 14 Nov 2024 12:22:35 EST news650809345 In an advance that could revolutionize biomarker detection, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light have developed a novel technique called femtosecond fieldoscopy. This method enables the precise measurement of minute liquid quantities, down to the micromolar level, with unmatched sensitivity in the near-infrared region. /news/2024-10-femtosecond-fieldoscopy-accesses-molecule-fingerprints.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 22 Oct 2024 12:28:03 EDT news648818881 Polaritons are coupled excitations of electromagnetic waves with either charged particles or vibrations in the atomic lattice of a given material. They are widely used in nanophotonics because of their ability to confine light at extremely small volumes, on the order of nanometers, which is essential to enhance light-matter interactions. /news/2024-10-platform-2d-polaritons-miniaturized-spectrometers.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 22 Oct 2024 12:20:12 EDT news648818409 Large amounts of the food we produce do not end up in our stomachs, but in landfills, sewers, or elsewhere. According to the UN, in 2022, this was the fate of 1.05 billion tons of food, which ended up as food waste—corresponding to approximately 132 kg per capita in the world. /news/2024-09-microchip-millions-liters.html Biotechnology Agriculture Tue, 24 Sep 2024 17:07:04 EDT news646416421 The invention of optical frequency combs revolutionized frequency metrology and time-keeping. Miniaturization of such combs onto photonic chips, primarily leveraging the microresonator Kerr soliton frequency comb, expands on these functionalities by providing portable solutions to ultrafast spectroscopy, laser frequency synchronization, as well as stable optical, millimeter wave, and microwave frequency generation. /news/2024-09-scientists-octave-spanning-soliton-frequency.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 04 Sep 2024 16:24:03 EDT news644685842 Laser-plasma accelerators take up less space than conventional facilities, which are sometimes kilometers long. Such compact particle sources can accelerate electron bunches efficiently, enabling X-ray lasers that fit in the basement of a university institute. /news/2024-08-diagnostic-tool-laser-plasma-metal.html Optics & Photonics Plasma Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 30 Aug 2024 09:06:30 EDT news644227587 Ghost imaging in the time domain allows for reconstructing fast temporal objects using a slow photodetector. The technique involves correlating random or pre-programmed probing temporal intensity patterns with the integrated signal measured after modulation by the temporal object. However, the implementation of temporal ghost imaging necessitates ultrafast detectors or modulators for measuring or pre-programming the probing intensity patterns, which are not available in all spectral regions especially in the mid-infrared region. /news/2024-08-proof-concept-mid-infrared-temporal.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 26 Aug 2024 16:41:03 EDT news643909261 Four researchers from the Institute of Photonics at Leibniz University Hannover have developed a new transmitter-receiver concept for transmitting entangled photons over an optical fiber. This breakthrough could enable the next generation of telecommunications technology, the quantum internet, to be routed via optical fibers. The quantum internet promises eavesdropping-proof encryption methods that even future quantum computers cannot decrypt, ensuring the security of critical infrastructure. /news/2024-08-physicists-method-combine-conventional-internet.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 05 Aug 2024 11:34:24 EDT news642076461 In a significant leap forward for quantum technology, researchers have achieved a milestone in harnessing the frequency dimension within integrated photonics. This breakthrough not only promises advancements in quantum computing, but also lays the groundwork for ultra-secure communications networks. /news/2024-07-silicon-photonics-large-scale-applications.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 15 Jul 2024 16:25:04 EDT news640279502 MINFLUX is a powerful microscopy technique that allows researchers to see objects much smaller than the wavelength of light. A newly developed evolution of the process uses a simpler device to create the light pattern needed to examine the molecule, making the entire process faster, cheaper and easier to use for future discoveries. /news/2024-06-simple-method-super-resolution-microscopy.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 11 Jun 2024 10:42:04 EDT news637321322 In the rapidly evolving field of photonics, an advancement has emerged from Korea, redefining the possibilities of structural color manipulation. Scientists have developed a pioneering technology capable of omnidirectional wavelength tuning, which promises to revolutionize a myriad of tunable photonic applications. /news/2024-05-omnidirectional-wavelength-tuning-method-possibilities.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 22 May 2024 11:46:03 EDT news635597161 Single-pixel imaging (SPI) is a novel computational imaging technique that has been widely studied in recent years. This technique only uses a single pixel detector without spatial resolution to obtain the spatial information of the target. /news/2024-05-pixel-imaging-enabled-fiber-laser.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 13 May 2024 13:31:03 EDT news634825862 Responding to the increasing demand for efficient, tunable optical materials capable of precise light modulation to create greater bandwidth in communication networks and advanced optical systems, a team of researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi's Photonics Research Lab (PRL) have developed a novel, two-dimensional (2D) material capable of manipulating light with exceptional precision and minimal loss. /news/2024-04-2d-material-remarkable-precision-minimal.html Condensed Matter Optics & Photonics Mon, 22 Apr 2024 13:00:28 EDT news633009626 Over the past decade, metasurfaces deploying two-dimensional artificial nanostructures have emerged as a groundbreaking platform to manipulate light across various degrees of freedom. These metasurfaces exhibit significant potential in foundational scientific research and industrial applications. /news/2024-04-gigahertz-switchable-wavefront-lnoi-empowered.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 16 Apr 2024 15:20:03 EDT news632499601 Invented by T. Tajima and J. Dawson, laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) harnesses the power of high-intensity laser pulses to drive plasma waves with acceleration gradients orders of magnitude higher than conventional RF-based accelerators. /news/2024-04-electro-optic-3d-snapshot-laser.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 09 Apr 2024 16:40:50 EDT news631899647