Physics
KAIST Pins Down Barium Titanate's True Optical Properties After Decades of Conflicting Values
Mueller-matrix ellipsometry on single crystals gives chip designers reliable numbers for a promising material used in optical modulators.
Topic
Photonics
78 stories from Planck Standard. Latest: November 10, 2026.
PhysicsLight Bouncing Inside Thin Films Can Fake Molecular Signals in Perovskite Solar Cells
A Japanese physicist says a sharp infrared signal long read as molecular change can come from optics alone, and proposes a dilution test to tell the two apart.
- Physics
Air Holes Etched in Silicon Make Flat Ultraviolet Mirrors That Focus Light to a Micron
Stuttgart physicists turned silicon's strong UV absorption into an advantage, building half-millimeter mirrors from tiny elliptical cavities in a single etching step.
PhysicsStanford Chip Untangles Mixed Laser Light Into Clean Beams, a Trick Theorized in the 1980s
A fingernail-sized photonic chip sorted partially coherent light from two and then three lasers into separate, uncorrelated beams for the first time.
ScienceEPFL Builds a Chip-Scale Blue Laser Stable Enough for Underwater Communication
The 461-nanometer laser pairs a linewidth below 30 kilohertz with frequency tuning over 900 megahertz, and it sent an image through water and detected candle smoke.
PhysicsChinese Team Builds Chip That Turns Ultraviolet Photons Into Fiber-Ready Light
A lithium niobate converter shifts 393 nm photons from trapped calcium ions to 1550 nm telecom light with 28.8% efficiency and very little noise, a step toward larger quantum networks.
PhysicsNew Gallium Phosphide-on-Diamond Chip Lets Light Read Out a Single Qubit
University of Washington researchers built more than 600 nanophotonic cavities on diamond with 99.5% yield, a step toward quantum networks that can be manufactured at scale.
PhysicsChip-Sized Laser Gyroscope Senses Rotation Nearly 2,000 Times More Faintly, Approaching Earth's Spin
A Caltech and UC Santa Barbara team built a Brillouin ring-laser gyroscope that measures rotation as slow as 37 degrees per hour, using only milliwatts of optical power.
PhysicsChip-Sized Frequency Comb Matches Tabletop Systems, Raising Hopes for Portable Atomic Clocks
Researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute and partners lock a chip-based comb into a single clean set of 'tick marks' using light solitons, a Nature paper reports.
PhysicsIllinois Team Stores Multiple Photons on a Chip for Over a Microsecond Using Erbium Atoms
The Nano Letters demonstration on thin-film lithium niobate is a step toward chip-scale quantum memories that could be manufactured at scale.
PhysicsA Quantum Photonic Chip Ran in Orbit for Eight Months, Losing Half Its Detectors
University of Vienna physicists report that a light-based quantum processor survived launch on a Falcon 9 and produced photon pairs and interference in space.
PhysicsAtoms Normally Shine in Every Direction
Reported in Physical Review Letters, the trick is timing: match the speed of the atoms' motion to the length of the light pulse they emit together, and up to 89% of the light goes one direction. No mirrors, no lattice, no chiral structure required.
PhysicsLSU Built a 40-Photon Quantum Machine Out of Ordinary Laser Light
Instead of coaxing fragile quantum states into existence, physicists sent bright classical light through a random optical network and counted photons one at a time on the way out, exposing hidden multiphoton quantum behavior with 861 measurable components that survives noise and loss.
PhysicsAn Ordinary LED Traps 96% of the Light It Makes. Lund Grew Branched Nanowires to Let It Out
The design injects charge through a central core but emits only from side branches thinner than the wavelength of the light itself, so total internal reflection has nothing to work with.
PhysicsOsaka Physicists Wired 10 Atoms Into 10 Optical Fibers at Once. Nobody Had Managed More Than One
Photons from neutral atoms spaced micrometers apart were routed into parallel channels of a 32-channel waveguide array with almost no crosstalk, a step toward linking quantum computers together.
PhysicsCornell Physicists Stopped Part of a Light Wave and Left a Magnet Behind for 300 Femtoseconds
No external magnets, no magnetic materials — just a germanium metasurface and a well-timed laser pulse that changes the rules while the light is still inside.
PhysicsPhysicists Braided Laser Beams Into Trefoil Knots on a Chip — Something That Only Happens Where Energy Leaks Out
By tuning gain and detuning on an integrated photonic chip, a team watched laser frequencies wind around each other into Hopf links and Solomon links, making an abstract piece of non-Hermitian topology directly visible.
PhysicsLSU Cut Hundreds of Slits Into a Gold Film and Built a Quantum Material That Works Without a Refrigerator
Nearly every quantum material discovered so far needs cooling to near absolute zero. This one sorts photons by their quantum statistics at room temperature.
PhysicsPhysicists Found a Woven Fabric Inside a Crystal, Then Unpicked a Patch of It With a Green Laser
In a potassium-tantalate-niobate crystal, electric dipoles turned out to be interlacing over and under each other in three dimensions — a structure nobody had ever seen form spontaneously in a solid.
PhysicsCaltech Broke the Rule That Says One Photon Pair Can Only Double a Microscope's Resolution
The trick was routing one half of an entangled pair through the lenses three times instead of once. Lihong Wang's group had been stuck at 1.8× since 2023.
PhysicsA Danish Lab Heated a Short Stretch of Optical Fiber and Nearly Doubled the Reach of the World's Quietest White Laser
The trick replaces a spliced chain of different fiber types with one fiber that compresses its own pulses. The output now spans 0.86 to 2.90 micrometers without getting noisy.
PhysicsNIST Sent Entangled Photons 62 Kilometers Through Ordinary Telecom Fiber Strung Above Maryland Suburbs
The link held entanglement for 92.8% of a full day on commercial above-ground cable, moving 1,500 entangled photons per second through heat, wind and traffic vibration — conditions lab experiments never face.
PhysicsPhysicists Carved the Famous 'Hat' Tile Into a Chip and Got Pinwheels of Light
A University of Tokyo team built nanoscale optics from the aperiodic monotile that solved a decades-old math puzzle in 2023 — and found diffraction patterns no quasicrystal has ever produced.
PhysicsMichigan Physicists Built an 'Electron Lighthouse' That Aims a Current With Light Alone — No Electric Field
Two colors of laser light interfere inside a semiconductor and squirt electrons in a chosen direction. Rotate the light's polarization and the electron beam sweeps like a lighthouse lamp.
PhysicsSeoul Physicists Build a Photonic Chip That Speeds Up or Slows Down Light on Command
The silicon nitride circuit uses two tunable loop couplers to reprogram how fast a light pulse travels — something previous optical chips locked in at the factory.
PhysicsA New Class of Quantum Material Lets Light and Magnetism Talk Directly to Each Other
In crystals a few atoms thick, researchers found that light-generated excitons don't just sit on top of the magnetism — they can sense the spin order and, under the right conditions, help control it.
PhysicsLSU Physicists Build the First Quantum Material That Sorts Light's Quantum States at Room Temperature
A gold film thinner than a hair, carved with hundreds of microscopic slits, acts as a statistical filter on quantum states of light — no cryogenic refrigeration required.
PhysicsA 200-Year-Old Light Trick Lets Physicists Build Swirling 'Optical Skyrmions' With Just a Laser and a Disc
NTU Singapore researchers used the classic Poisson spot to generate up to four kinds of exotic, knot-like light patterns at once, a strikingly simple recipe for structures that could power future data storage and computing.
PhysicsEngineers Build a Material That Can 'Program' Heat — and Remember the Setting With the Power Off
Osaka researchers paired a magneto-optical layer with a phase-change material to steer, switch and store thermal radiation, a step toward circuits that manage heat the way electronics manage current.
PhysicsA Simple Twist of Atom-Thin Crystals Gives Scientists New Control Over Quantum Light
By mechanically rotating stacked sheets of hexagonal boron nitride, researchers tuned single-photon emitters across a record range — a step toward practical quantum computers and secure communications.
PhysicsScientists Build a Light-Powered Chip That Generates, Steers and Reads Information in One Device
A Monash University team unveiled the first integrated 'valleytronics' circuit, using atom-thin materials to manipulate a quantum property of light and clear a long-standing bottleneck toward faster, lower-energy computing.
PhysicsScientists Successfully Shrink Powerful Femtosecond Laser Onto Single Chip
EPFL researchers achieve 20-year goal of integrating ultrafast laser technology that could revolutionize medical devices and atomic clocks.
- Physics
Scientists Successfully Shrink Powerful Ultrafast Laser Onto Single Chip
EPFL researchers have developed the first integrated ultrafast laser that matches tabletop femtosecond laser performance, potentially making advanced laser technologies far smaller and more accessible.
- Physics
Scientists Build a Light-Powered Chip That Could Reshape AI and Quantum Computing
An international team has created the first chip that can generate, steer and read light-based signals in a single device at room temperature, a milestone for the emerging field of 'valleytronics.'
- Physics
Scientists Achieve Breakthrough by Shrinking Powerful Femtosecond Laser Onto Computer Chip
EPFL researchers develop chip-scale ultrafast laser that matches tabletop performance, potentially revolutionizing medical diagnostics and atomic clock technology.
- Physics
Scientists Achieve Breakthrough by Shrinking Powerful Laser Onto Computer Chip
After 20-year quest, researchers create chip-scale ultrafast laser matching performance of room-sized systems, opening door to miniaturized precision technologies.
PhysicsStrange Crystal Acts Like Metal and Glass Simultaneously, Could Power Next-Generation AR Devices
Molybdenum oxychloride demonstrates the strongest light-bending effect ever measured in nature, potentially enabling ultrathin smart contact lenses and AR glasses.
PhysicsQuantum Metasurface Breakthrough Could Finally Close the Terahertz Gap
New compact detector increases terahertz radiation detection efficiency by 20 times, promising advances in healthcare and communications.
PhysicsRevolutionary Light-Powered Chip Achieves Complete Quantum Information Processing
Monash University scientists create integrated device that can generate, steer, and read quantum light signals using valley degree of freedom, operating at room temperature.
- Physics
Revolutionary Light-Powered Chip Integrates Quantum Information Processing in Single Device
Monash University scientists create compact circuit that generates, directs, and reads quantum light signals, marking major leap toward ultra-fast computing.
- Physics
Revolutionary Light-Powered Chip Breakthrough Could Accelerate AI and Quantum Computing
Monash University scientists created the first fully integrated device that can generate, steer, and read light-based information using quantum valley properties.
- Physics
Revolutionary Light-Powered Chip Uses Quantum Valley Properties for Ultra-Fast Computing
Scientists create integrated device that generates, steers, and reads light-based information at room temperature, marking major breakthrough for quantum technologies.
- Physics
Strange Crystal Discovered That Acts Like Metal and Glass Simultaneously
Molybdenum oxychloride exhibits strongest light-bending effect ever measured in natural material, potentially enabling invisible wearable technologies.
- Physics
Scientists Create Light-Powered Chip That Could Revolutionize Quantum Computing
The breakthrough device generates, steers, and reads light-based information in a single chip using atomically thin materials and nanoscale structures.
PhysicsStanford Quantum Computing Breakthrough Uses Twisted Light Without Extreme Cooling
A new room-temperature quantum device uses twisted light to entangle photons and electrons, overcoming one of the biggest hurdles in quantum technology development.
- Physics
Breakthrough Crystal Acts Like Metal and Glass Simultaneously, Could Enable Smart Contact Lenses
Scientists map optical properties of molybdenum oxychloride, revealing strongest light-bending effect ever measured in natural material.
- Physics
Quantum Breakthrough Uses Twisted Light for Room-Temperature Computing
Stanford researchers develop nanoscale device that creates quantum entanglement without extreme cooling, potentially revolutionizing quantum technology costs and accessibility.
- Physics
Stanford Scientists Develop Room-Temperature Quantum Device Using Twisted Light
The breakthrough device uses twisted light to entangle photons and electrons without extreme cooling, potentially making quantum technology smaller and more affordable.
PhysicsAI-Powered Spectrometer Chip Shrinks Lab Analysis to Size of Grain of Sand
UC Davis researchers achieve lab-quality spectral analysis using silicon sensors and machine learning, eliminating the need for bulky optical equipment.
PhysicsPhysicists Discover Mysterious 'Narwhal' Waves That Trap Light Beyond Known Physical Limits
Revolutionary breakthrough shows light can be confined to extraordinarily small spaces using lossless materials, potentially enabling ultra-efficient photonic chips and quantum technologies.
PhysicsScientists Solve Mystery of 'Breathing' Ultrafast Lasers Using Unified Theory
International team develops mathematical framework explaining why some laser pulses rhythmically grow and shrink like they're breathing.
- Physics
Scientists Discover Strange 'Narwhal' Waves That Trap Light Beyond Known Limits
Physicists have uncovered a new way to confine light in extremely small spaces using purely dielectric materials, avoiding the heat losses that plague current technologies.
- Physics
Scientists Discover 'Narwhal' Light Waves That Trap Photons in Subwavelength Spaces
Breakthrough in 'singulonics' uses purely dielectric materials to confine light far beyond conventional limits without energy losses from metals.
- Physics
Scientists Discover Revolutionary 'Narwhal' Waves That Trap Light Beyond Known Physical Limits
Physicists at Peking University have uncovered a breakthrough method to confine light in ultra-small spaces using purely dielectric materials, potentially revolutionizing photonic technology.
- Physics
Physicists Finally Solve Mystery of 'Breathing' Ultrafast Lasers Using Unified Mathematical Framework
International research team develops breakthrough model explaining why some laser pulses rhythmically grow and shrink like they're breathing.
- Physics
Kyoto Physicists Crack a Decades-Old Quantum Bottleneck With the First Full Entanglement Measurement of a Multi-Photon W State
By exploiting cyclic-shift symmetry and a photonic quantum Fourier transform, the Takeuchi lab demonstrates 95% fidelity on three photons — clearing the way for multi-photon teleportation and measurement-based quantum computing.
PhysicsScientists Create 'Impossible' LED That Could Revolutionize Medicine and Communications
Cambridge researchers use molecular antennas to power insulating nanoparticles, achieving breakthrough in ultra-pure near-infrared light generation.
PhysicsQuantum Breakthrough Enables Instant Detection of Elusive 'W States' for First Time
Japanese scientists develop revolutionary method to identify multi-photon quantum entanglement in single measurement, advancing quantum computing.
- Physics
Scientists Achieve Breakthrough in Quantum W State Detection After 25-Year Quest
Japanese researchers develop revolutionary method to instantly identify elusive quantum states that could unlock faster quantum communication and teleportation.
- Physics
Scientists Achieve Instant Detection of Quantum W States in Major Breakthrough
Japanese researchers develop new method that could revolutionize quantum teleportation and computing systems.
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