Optics & Photonics news

Building a more versatile laser

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Nov 16, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (19) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- One of the drawbacks associated with using semiconductor lasers is that many of them can only produce a beam of a single wavelength, and can only send that beam in one direction at a time. ...

Invisibility visualized: German team unveils new software for rendering cloaked objects

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Nov 13, 2009 | 4 / 5 (5) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists and curiosity seekers who want to know what a partially or completely cloaked object would look like in real life can now get their wish -- virtually. A team of researchers at the ...

Pushing light beyond its known limits

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Nov 12, 2009 | 3.9 / 5 (18) | 6

Scientists at the University of Adelaide have made a breakthrough that could change the world's thinking on what light is capable of.

Chinese scientists create metamaterial black hole

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Oct 16, 2009 | 4 / 5 (54) | 20

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two physicists in China have used metamaterials to create the first artificial electromagnetic black hole. The scientists, Qiang Cheng and Tie Jun Cui from the Southeast University in Nanjing, ...

A road of no return: Team implements the first '1-way roads' for light

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Oct 08, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (21) | 2

Light readily bounces off obstacles in its path. Some of these reflections are captured by our eyes, thus participating in the visual perception of the objects around us. In contrast to this usual behavior ...

Scientists take step toward simple and portable tuberculosis tests for developing world

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Oct 08, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

Two billion people worldwide carry the pathogen that causes tuberculosis (TB), and most of them do not even know they are infected. This is because some 90 percent of people with TB have "latent" infections. They have no ...

Femtoseconds lasers help formation flying in space

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Oct 02, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has helped to establish that femtosecond comb lasers can provide accurate measurement of absolute distance in formation flying space missions.

Laser Fusion and Exawatt Lasers

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Oct 01, 2009 | 4 / 5 (17) | 10

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the recent past, producing lasers with terawatt (a trillion watts) beams was impressive. Now petawatt (a thousand trillion watts, or 10^15 watts) lasers are the forefront of laser research. Some labs are ...

Perfect image without metamaterials... and a reprieve for silicon chips (w/ Video)

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Sep 29, 2009 | 2.9 / 5 (17) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- Since 2000, John Pendry's work on metamaterials has been at the van guard of efforts to create a perfect image - images with perfect resolution that can stem from light being moved in odd ...

Time Lens Speeds Up Optical Data Transmission

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Sep 28, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (15) | 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Cornell University have developed a device called a "time lens" which is a silicon device for speeding up optical data. The basic components of this device are an optical-fiber ...

Discovery brings new type of fast computers closer to reality

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Sep 27, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (34) | 1

Physicists at UC San Diego have successfully created speedy integrated circuits with particles called "excitons" that operate at commercially cold temperatures, bringing the possibility of a new type of extremely ...

Prototype developed to detect dark matter

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Sep 25, 2009 | 4.1 / 5 (7) | 2

A team of researchers from the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR, Spain) and the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS, in France) has developed a "scintillating bolometer", a device that the scientists will ...

Diamonds are a laser's best friend

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Sep 18, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (9) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tomorrow's lasers may come with a bit of bling, thanks to a new technology that uses man-made diamonds to enhance the power and capabilities of lasers. Researchers in Australia have now demonstrated the first ...

'Metamaterials' used to look at effects of black holes, other celestial objects

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Sep 10, 2009 | 3.1 / 5 (9) | 11

(PhysOrg.com) -- Dr. Dentcho Genov, an assistant professor of physics and electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University and a Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI) Institute fellow, is featured ...

Light at the speed of a bicycle and much more

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Sep 09, 2009 | 3.7 / 5 (11) | 6

The speed of light, 300 million metres per second, was long thought an immutable constant and has defined our understanding of matter and energy but recent research in the area of optics and photonics is proving ...

World's smallest semiconductor laser heralds new era in optical science

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Aug 30, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (25) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have reached a new milestone in laser physics by creating the world's smallest semiconductor laser, capable of generating visible light ...

Open wide and say 'zap'

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Aug 18, 2009 | 4 / 5 (1) | 0

A group of researchers in Australia and Taiwan has developed a new way to analyze the health of human teeth using lasers. As described in the latest issue of Optics Express,, by measuring how the surface of a tooth respon ...

UGA, UPR grant license for long-persistence glow materials, in any color

Physics / Optics & Photonics

Aug 17, 2009 | 3.3 / 5 (3) | 2

The University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. (UGARF) and the University of Puerto Rico have granted an international, non-exclusive license for a portfolio of glow-in-the-dark pigments that can be designed ...