All Articles Tagged As: light

Laboratory opens at the Diamond Light Source synchrotron (9/7/2008)

Laboratory set up to solve the structures of membrane proteins ...> Full Article

New technique to compress light could open doors for optical communications (8/1/2008)

Scientists have devised a way to squeeze light into tighter spaces than ever thought possible, potentially opening doors to new technology in the fields of optical communications, miniature lasers and optical computers. ...> Full Article

The Lightness of Electrons in a Twisting Metal Crystal (7/27/2008)

Watching a crystal of bismuth metal in a powerful magnetic field, researchers discover new states of electrons that behave like light ...> Full Article

Freeing light shines promise on energy-efficient lighting (7/18/2008)

The latest bright idea in energy-efficient lighting for homes and offices uses big science in nano-small packages to dim the future Edison's light bulb. ...> Full Article

Scientists close in on source of X-rays in lightning (7/17/2008)

Engineering researchers have narrowed the search for the source of X-rays emitted by lightning, a feat that could one day help predict where lightning will strike. ...> Full Article

Research opens new 'window' on solar energy (7/16/2008)

Cost effective devices expected on market soon ...> Full Article

Nano-sized Electronic Circuit Promises Bright View of Early Universe (7/11/2008)

A newly developed nano-sized electronic device is an important step toward helping astronomers see invisible light dating from the creation of the universe. ...> Full Article

Physicists Produce Quantum-Entangled Images (6/16/2008)

Convenient, Versatile Technique Could Provide New Tool for Quantum Information, Better Optical Measurements ...> Full Article

New metamaterial proves to be a 'perfect' absorber of light (6/2/2008)

Resonators couple individually to electric and magnetic fields to absorb all incident radiation ...> Full Article

Researchers demonstrate for the first time how light squeezes through small holes (5/9/2008)

How does light pass through a tiny hole? For the first time, researchers have succeeded in mapping this process properly ...> Full Article

Physics Advance Leads to a Better Understanding of Optics at the Atomic Scale (4/29/2008)

Advance improves our understanding of how light interacts with matter, and could make possible the development of new integrated-circuit technologies that result in faster computers that use less energy. ...> Full Article

Light research opens door for optical storage and computing (4/27/2008)

Photonics research hopes to use slow and fast light pulses to store and process information ...> Full Article

World's shortest single photon pulse created (4/13/2008)

The world's shortest light pulse containing just one photon has been produced ...> Full Article

Graphene gazing gives glimpse of foundations of universe (4/5/2008)

Researchers have used graphene to measure an important and mysterious fundamental constant - and glimpse the foundations of the universe. ...> Full Article

Ultra-fast, ultra-intense laser has clean-cut advantage (3/15/2008)

Laser lab will enable researchers to change the face of medicine ...> Full Article

Physicists discover how fundamental particles lose track of quantum mechanical properties (3/14/2008)

In today's Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science, researchers report a series of experiments that mark an important step toward understanding a longstanding fundamental physics problem of quantum mechanics. The scientists presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society here this week. ...> Full Article

Single particles of light have a market (3/8/2008)

The world's first commercial product delivering individual photons of light has been developed ...> Full Article

Physics breakthrough much ado about 'nothing' (3/7/2008)

Team enhances understanding of the universe by capturing unique form of void ...> Full Article

New X-ray technique may lead to better, cleaner fuel injectors for automobiles (2/20/2008)

Standard microscopy and visible light imaging techniques cannot peer into the dark and murky centers of dense-liquid jets, which has hindered scientists in their quest for a full understanding of liquid breakup in devices such as automobile fuel injectors. ...> Full Article

New laser beam believed to set record for intensity (2/16/2008)

If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of a new laser beam made in a University of Michigan laboratory. ...> Full Article

'T-ray' breakthrough signals next generation of security sensors (2/5/2008)

A new generation of sensors for detecting explosives and poisons could be developed following new research into a type of radiation known as T-rays ...> Full Article

New Technique Makes Tissues Transparent (2/4/2008)

If humans had see-through skin like a jellyfish, spotting disease like cancer would be a snap: Just look, and see a tumor form or grow. ...> Full Article

Taking ULTRA molecular fingerprints (2/3/2008)

A new laser under development at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire will enable UK bio scientists to monitor biological processes at a millionth of a millionth of a second. ...> Full Article

Researchers Use Musical Chords To Analyze And Illustrate Hydrogen Molecule's Response To Laser Pulses (2/2/2008)

For Kansas State University physics professor Uwe Thumm, confirmation of a theory about the behavior of small molecules became music to his ears -- literally. He and colleagues in Heidelberg, Germany, have shown how a hydrogen molecule responds to laser pulses by using the changing musical chord created by the molecule's vibrational motion. ...> Full Article

Squeezed Crystals Deliver More Volts Per Jolt (2/1/2008)

A discovery by scientists at the Carnegie Institution has opened the door to a new generation of piezoelectric materials that can convert mechanical strain into electricity and vice versa, potentially cutting costs and boosting performance in myriad applications ranging from medical diagnostics to green energy technologies. ...> Full Article

Discovery cuts cost of next generation optical fibres (1/18/2008)

Scientists have discovered a way of speeding up the production of hollow-core optical fibres - a new generation of optical fibres that could lead to faster and more powerful computing and telecommunications technologies. ...> Full Article

Researchers bend light through waveguides in colloidal crystals (1/8/2008)

Researchers at the University of Illinois are the first to achieve optical waveguiding of near-infrared light through features embedded in self-assembled, three-dimensional photonic crystals. Applications for the optically active crystals include low-loss waveguides, low-threshold lasers and on-chip optical circuitry. ...> Full Article

Tiny technology (12/23/2007)

A switch just one-tenth the size of a human hair has been developed by Scottish scientists to boost communication technologies. ...> Full Article

Reversible Data Transfers from Light to Sound (12/17/2007)

New experiments address a barrier to efforts at developing computer networks that can run on light instead of electrons ...> Full Article

Light is shed on new fibre's potential to change technology (12/14/2007)

Photonic crystal fibre's ability to create broad spectra of light, which will be the basis for important developments in technology, has been explained for the first time in an article in the leading science journal Nature-Photonics. ...> Full Article

Ultrafast optical shutter is switched entirely by laser light (12/8/2007)

A new study reports that a laser can be used to switch a film of vanadium dioxide back and forth between reflective and transparent states without heating or cooling it. ...> Full Article

Novel semiconductor structure bends light 'wrong' way - the right direction for many applications (10/17/2007)

A research team has created an easy-to-produce material from the stuff of computer chips that has the rare ability to bend light in the opposite direction from all naturally occurring materials. This startling property may contribute to significant advances in many areas, including high-speed communications, medical diagnostics and detection of terrorist threats. ...> Full Article

Physicist shining a light on mysterious 'dark matter' (10/4/2007)

We've all been taught that our bodies, the Earth, and in fact all matter in the universe is composed of tiny building blocks called atoms. Now imagine if this weren't the case. This mind-bending concept is at the core of the scientific research that researchers all over the world—are pursuing. ...> Full Article