Browse Physics

Design ideas for making new optical devices borrow from supersymmetry, a candidate theory in particle physics.

Metamaterials offer a way to enhance light-induced forces in waveguide-based optomechanical devices.

Cloaking mechanisms, analogous to those in optical metamaterials, can also hide regions that scatter electrons in semiconductors.

An acoustic diode made from linear metamaterials offers a more efficient way to control the propagation of sound than previous designs.

Thanks to illusion optics, an open channel across a metamaterial slab is made invisible to light incident from the left.

A general approach works toward bringing the magical ideas of transformation optics closer to practical use.

Structurally engineered electromagnetic materials have now been made from active elements, expanding the range of possible optical effects in such so-called “metamaterials.”

The caveat that a carpet cloak must be made of an anisotropic material should not be ignored.

Bent light can do more than render objects invisible—it can make them appear as something else.

A compact lens made from an acoustic metamaterial can focus ultrasonic waves to half a wavelength.