News tagged with beams of light

Physicists build highly efficient 'no-waste' laser

A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that ...

Physics / General Physics

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (22) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Nanometer-scale growth of cone cells tracked in living human eye

Humans see color thanks to cone cells, specialized light-sensing neurons located in the retina along the inner surface of the eyeball. The actual light-sensing section of these cells is called the outer segment, which is ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Dec 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 15

U of Toronto experiment named top breakthrough of 2011 by Physics World

Aephraim Steinberg and colleagues at the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control at the University of Toronto had the top physics breakthrough of the year according to Physics World magazine.

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 19

A serendipitous gravitational lens

(PhysOrg.com) -- The path traveled by a light beam will bend in the presence of matter. This remarkable prediction, reached by Einstein in his theory of general relativity, was confirmed by observations of ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 21, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Switching light on and off - with photons

(PhysOrg.com) -- Cornell researchers have demonstrated that the passage of a light beam through an optical fiber can be controlled by just a few photons of another light beam.

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Nov 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Millisecond pulsar in spin mode

Astronomers have tracked down the first gamma-ray pulsar in a globular cluster of stars. It is around 27,000 light years away and thus also holds the distance record in this class of objects. Moreover, its ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 03, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Scientists take fresh look at 'faster-than-light' experiment

Scientists who threw down the gauntlet to physics by reporting particles that broke the Universe's speed limit said on Friday they were revisiting their contested experiment.

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 28, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (22) | comments 146

Erasing history? Temporal cloaks adjust light's throttle to hide an event in time

Researchers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., have demonstrated for the first time that it's possible to cloak a singular event in time, creating what has been described as a "history editor." In a feat of Einstein-inspired ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Oct 12, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (15) | comments 14 | with audio podcast

Developing more accurate cold atom accelerometers

For the first time, a team of French physicists, supported by CNES and ESA, has succeeded in developing a vibration-resistant cold atom accelerometer. Tested in parabolic flight, this prototype was able to ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 4

Physicists wary of junking light speed limit yet

(AP) -- Physicists on the team that measured particles traveling faster than light said Friday they were as surprised as their skeptics about the results, which appear to violate the laws of nature as we ...

Physics / General Physics

created Sep 23, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (8) | comments 20

Nanoscale nonlinear light source created

Not long after the development of the first laser in 1960 scientists discovered that shining a beam through certain crystals produced light of a different color; more specifically, it produced light of exactly ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Sep 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Researchers identify gene that leads to myopia (nearsightedness)

A Ben-Gurion University of the Negev research group led by Prof. Ohad Birk has identified a gene whose defect specifically causes myopia or nearsightedness.

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Sep 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

New imaging method sheds light on cell growth

University of Illinois researchers are giving a light answer to the heavy question of cell growth.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Bend breakthrough sends light around a corner

(PhysOrg.com) -- Australian National University scientists have successfully bent light beams around an object on a two dimensional metal surface, opening the door to faster and cheaper computer chips working ...

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (13) | comments 7 | with audio podcast

Manipulating light at will

Electrical engineers at Duke University have developed a material that allows them to manipulate light in much the same way that electronics manipulate flowing electrons.

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 01, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast