Browse Physics

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.

The fastest known random number generator based on a physical process comes from intensity fluctuations in the light from a chaotic laser.

A proposal for obtaining optical resolution better than the classical limit by means of spatially entangled quantum states of light opens a new frontier in the fields of quantum optical imaging, metrology, and sensing.

Different molecules with nearly identical absorption spectra can be distinguished with the help of shaped laser pulses and adaptive algorithms.

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

Materials with unusual optical properties may allow the construction of sensors surrounded by a cloaking shell that makes the detectors undetectable.

Is the intracavity field of a laser necessarily a coherent state?

Dispersive probing of an atomic transition decreases the “dead time” of optical atomic clocks, potentially enabling more stable time reference standards.

Coherent optical systems combined with micromechanical devices may enable development of ultrasensitive force sensors and quantum information processing technology, as well as permit observation of quantum behavior in large-scale structures.

Loading cold atoms into a hollow-core optical fiber enables all-optical switching with just several hundred photons.

A unified framework can describe light-matter interactions in a broad range of optomechanical systems, from single laser-cooled atoms to micromechanical mirrors.

A feeble light beam reverses the magnetism of small regions of a magnetic semiconductor, raising new possibilities for using light in magnetic data storage.

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.

The observation of squeezed phonons by x-ray diffraction allows researchers to study the interactions between ultrafast lasers and matter in a whole new light.

In the weird world of quantum mechanics, looking at time flowing backwards allows us to look forward to precision measurements.

Simulations of optical speckle reveal topological scaling laws that apply to a wide range of physical systems.

A research team used a laser to produce large amounts of anti-electrons, opening up new possibilities for research on exotic astrophysical objects.

A proposal for a new type of cloaking device suggests a way to hide both a distant object and the cloak itself.