Browse Physics

Phonon lasing—coherent amplification of phonons by stimulated emission—has been achieved in a purely acoustic analog of a three-level laser scheme.

A theoretical proposal offers a technique for storing an x-ray photon and releasing it with its quantum properties fully intact.

The quantum states of light emitted by quantum dots stand up to the rigors of frequency conversion.

The properties that characterize topological insulators, such as symmetry protected surface states, also appear in materials with quasiperiodic order.

Terahertz radiation can control electron transport through quantum dots.

Radiation pressure and thermal effects come together in a new technique for manipulating particles inside a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber.

New techniques for storing and retrieving polarized photons improve the quantum memory capabilities of rare-earth-doped crystals.

Specially designed waveguides act like conduits for high-frequency displacement currents.

A semiconductor chip that generates entangled photon pairs is friendlier to integration with other chip-based quantum components than any previous device.

Spontaneous emission from stimulated quantum dots can be suppressed inside a crystal with a 3D photonic band gap.

Connecting futuristic photonic crystals with conventional fiber optics may be possible with modifications at the surface.

Researchers have detected rare instances of photons splitting in two.

A new technique allows sorting of single photons according to their orbital angular momentum–a property that could serve as an alphabet for optical messages.

Microscopic pinholes may soon allow the one-by-one transfer of photons in a way that mimics the process of Coulomb blockade of electrons.

Photons normally ignore one another, but under the right conditions they might collide.

Periodic lattices called photonic band gap structures may replace traditional microwave resonators in radar, satellites, and cell phones.

Surface waves involving metallic electrons and light can be guided along a channel cut through a periodic structure.

Laser photons are great for transmitting quantum information but hard to store. A new theory describes how photon information could be transferred to clouds of atoms in a future quantum computer.

A new material using liquid crystals could be the basis for programmable optical circuits.