Physicists investigating tubular biological microstructures that showed unexpected luminescence after heating. Bioinspired peptides, like the ones investigated, could be useful for applications in…

Topological transport of light is the photonic analog of topological electron flow in certain semiconductors. In the electron case, the current flows around the edge of the material but not…

We all understand light has a wide electromagnetic spectrum and we only see a small band of that. In physics terms, that is between 400 - 700 nanometers and they show up as colors,from violet to red…

Lasers are ubiquitous but there are still wavelengths for which only large and expensive ones exist, or none at all. Remote sensing and medical applications call for compact laser systems, for…

The high power needed to cut or weld using a laser beam creates its own problem: the beam’s energy deforms the mirrors that focus it. When that happens, the beam expands and loses intensity. A new…

If you have ever seen set pieces from a science-fiction show, you have probably been amazed at how cheap and silly the whole things looks. That was the initial concern with high-definition television…

An array of tiny, metallic, U-shaped structures deposited onto a dielectric material creates a new artificial surface that can bend and focus electromagnetic waves the same way an antenna does. The…

The complexity of biology can befuddle even the most sophisticated light microscopes because biological samples bend light in unpredictable ways, returning difficult-to-interpret information to the…

Exposure to short wavelength, blue, light during the biological day directly and immediately improves alertness and performance. In order to determine which wavelengths of light were most effective…

A project to develop fast-blinking LED systems for underwater optical communications has led to discovering that an artificial metamaterial can increase the light intensity and "blink speed" of a…