Browse Physics

A theoretical model finds that atoms can organize themselves into a regularly spaced row when trapped between a pair of nanosized optical fibers.

Infrared spectroscopy can detect trace gases and potentially provide an alternative carbon dating technique.

Calculations reveal that a dense cloud of cold atoms pumped with lasers can glow with its own laser light. Such ‘random lasers’ have previously been made only from solid and liquid materials.

Researchers have extracted electrons from atoms in a controlled way using sub-femtosecond light pulses. They also imaged the electrons’ quantum states with unprecedented clarity.

A laser beam might be 100 million times wider than an atom, but the atom still ‘knows’ the beam isn’t infinite. The effect could be important for some ultraprecise measurements.

A new class of materials that cools in response to laser light could one day help microchips and other devices run faster and more reliably.

Holograms make it possible to focus a beam of atoms into complicated patterns on a surface.

Using a gas of hot rubidium researchers slowed light signals to 90 m/s without using a Bose-Einstein condensate.