On a quest to design an alternative to the complex approaches currently used to produce electrons within microwave electron guns, a team of researchers have demonstrated a plug-and-play solution…

Laser-powered weapons have been a staple of science-fiction movies for so long we think we know what they would look like, but we really don't. Researchers at the Laser Centre of the Institute of…

A long-distance optical tractor beam can move tiny particles - one fifth of a millimeter in diameter - a distance of up to 20 centimeters, which is almost 100 times further than previous experiments…

In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, the 1871 sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the title character finds a mirror that behaves in a surprising and…

Look into the light - unless you want to keep your memories. UC Davis psychologists have used light to erase specific memories in mice and proved a basic hypothesis fpr how different parts of the…

Optical sensors are used all around the world to monitor the condition of difficult-to-access places like the underbellies of bridges, the exterior walls of tunnels, the feet of dams, long pipelines…

Electrical engineering researchers have developed a unique nanoscale device that demonstrates mechanical transportation of light. The nanoscale device that can capture, measure and transport…

Using twisted light to send data at almost unimaginable speeds is not new but researchers have developed a similar technique using radio waves - high speeds without the hassles that go with optical…

The invention of fiber optics revolutionized the way we share information, allowing us to transmit data at volumes and speeds we'd only previously dreamed of, and now are breaking another barrier,…

It’s hard to focus after a bad night’s sleep and by using mice and flashes of light, scientists have found why; just a few nerve cells in the brain may control the switch between internal thoughts…