Researchers dramatically downsize technology for fingerprinting drugs and other chemicals

Tiny photonic chip could fit comfortably within the tip of a finger

01-Sep-2020 - As new infectious diseases emerge and spread, one of the best shots against novel pathogens is finding new medicines or vaccines. But before drugs can be used as potential cures, they have to be painstakingly screened for composition, safety and purity, among other things. Thus, there is an ...

Atoms at the photo shoot

Scientists photographed, for the first time, individual atoms floating less than a thousandth of a millimeter above a light-conducting glass fiber

06-Aug-2020 - The first photograph of a single trapped atom represented a milestone for quantum research. This breakthrough was made possible because the atom was captured in a vacuum using electric fields and held far from surfaces whose scattered light could blind the camera. Scientists at Humboldt ...

Bending light around tight corners without backscattering losses

Photonic crystal waveguide paves the way to build futuristic light-based computers

21-Nov-2018 - Engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a device that can direct photons of light around sharp corners with virtually no losses due to backscattering, a key property that will be needed if electronics are ever to be replaced with light-based devices. The result was achieved with photonic ...

Capturing light in a waveguide array

07-Jun-2018 - Cheaper and more efficient photonic devices, such as lasers, optical fibers, and other light sources may be possible with confined light that is unaffected by imperfections in the material that confines it, according to new research. A team of physicists from Penn State, the University of ...

Tiny fibers open new windows into the brain

Three-in-one design allows genetic, chemical, optical, and electrical inputs and outputs.

24-Feb-2017 - For the first time ever, a single flexible fiber no bigger than a human hair has successfully delivered a combination of optical, electrical, and chemical signals back and forth into the brain, putting into practice an idea first proposed two years ago. With some tweaking to further improve its ...

Laser particles could provide sharper images of tissues

Imaging technique stimulates particles to emit laser light

08-Nov-2016 - A new imaging technique developed by scientists at MIT, Harvard University, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) aims to illuminate cellular structures in deep tissue and other dense and opaque materials. Their method uses tiny particles embedded in the material, that give off laser ...

New Sensor Could Help Fight Deadly Bacterial Infections

08-Sep-2016 - Scientists have built a new sensor that can detect the potentially deadly E.coli bacteria in 15-20 minutes, much faster than traditional lab tests. E.coli can be transmitted in contaminated food and water, posing particular risks to children and the elderly. In the late spring of 2011 a serious ...

Water and light 'flow' inspire ultrasensitive optical microfiber coupler sensor

07-Sep-2016 - When a river narrows or two rivers run into each other and merge, the water flow's speed increases and it becomes much stronger. Water flow and light flow are similar in many ways, and this inspired a group of researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the University of ...

A signal boost for molecular microscopy

Cavity-enhanced Raman-scattering reveals information on structure and properties of carbon nanotubes

14-Jul-2016 - Carbon nanotubes can be produced with a variety of shapes and properties and are therefore of much interest for widespread applications in fields as diverse as electronics, photonics, nanomechanics, and quantum optics. Hence it is important to have a tool at hand that allows to determine these ...

New laser achieves wavelength long sought by laser developers

02-Mar-2016 - Researchers at the University of Bath, United Kingdom have created a new kind of laser capable of pulsed and continuous mid-infrared (IR) emission between 3.1 and 3.2 microns, a spectral range that has long presented a major challenge for laser developers. The achievement could aid in the ...