Browse Physics

Transmission of light through an atomic vapor offers a way of replacing a conventional compass with an all-optical device.

Theoretical analysis now explains how whispering-gallery-mode resonators can be used to effectively generate broad optical frequency combs.

An alternative to a needle for penetrating cells may be found in the precise and forceful fluid jet created by two bubbles expanding and collapsing in tandem.

Just as a laser can emit coherent light from an amplifying medium, an absorbing medium can perfectly capture incoming radiation under the right conditions.

A little-known and subtle optical effect in combination with state-of-the-art pulsed laser techniques holds considerable promise as a sensitive way to study physical properties (including spin phenomena) in nanometer scale structures.

In a new regime for atomic clocks, strong interactions between atoms dramatically increase the clock’s coherence time.

A small crystal distortion can dramatically translate the path of an x-ray beam, an effect that could be useful in the development of x-ray optics.

Making simple modifications to laser-scanning microscopes—like those found in many laboratories—can beat the classical diffraction limit by a factor of $2$.

Vibrations of the atoms in a molecule are used to implement a Fourier transform orders of magnitude faster than possible with devices based on conventional electronics.

Researchers have found a way to naturally double the frequency of laser light with an optical microresonator made from lithium niobate that supports “whispering gallery” modes.

A trick for modulating optical frequency combs will enable more flexible control over trapped-ion qubits.

The transmission of light through a disordered medium is described in microscopic detail by a high-dimensional matrix. Researchers have now measured this transmission matrix directly, providing a new approach to control light propagation.

Two groups have made progress in building laserlike devices that emit phonons rather than photons.

Čerenkov radiation with the emission cone reversed has been observed in a metamaterial with negative refractive index.

How freak or rogue waves form in the ocean is not well understood, but new investigations suggest a mechanism for these waves that may also allow formation of high-intensity pulses in optical fibers.

A new approach to reduce spherical and chromatic aberration in electron microscopy allows for low-energy imaging of single-layer boron nitride, a novel 2D nanostructure that is analogous to graphene.

An entangled state of six photons could potentially carry quantum information over large distances and between different reference frames.

Magnetic switching is typically a continuous process, where a field pulse rotates a magnet from up to down, but it is now possible to do this faster — and with all-optical methods — by first quenching the magnetization to zero and then repolarizing it in the opposite direction.

Calculations show that with new short pulse x-ray light sources, it should be possible to use photoelectron emission to make movies of changes in molecular structure.

This design of atomic quantum memory tells us when a pulse of light has been successfully stored and then proceeds to retrieve it without significantly affecting its polarization. The exquisite operation provides a new capability for quantum information networks.