Browse Physics

By applying environmental noise to a photon detector, researchers have identified the boundary where the device switches from a quantum device to a classical one.

Applying x-ray diffraction microscopy to magnetic systems yields simultaneous spatial and temporal information.

Experiments confirm the rapid increase in radiative heat transfer that occurs when two surfaces are brought into close proximity.

Dense clouds of cold atoms have been produced in thin optical fibers.

A new method to generate ultrabright single-mode biphotons using a backward-wave parametric oscillator is proposed.

Observations of single photons traveling through cold atomic gases confirm that information can only travel as fast as the speed of light.

A two-dimensional array of silicon rods is theoretically shown to bend light around tight corners.

When it comes to probing ultracold atoms in optical lattices, has direct imaging put Bragg diffraction out of business?

Experiments confirm a decades-old prediction that carefully tailoring the shape of a barrier lets light of many colors pass through it without reflection.

Electrons join the growing technology to build integrated quantum circuits that guide matter waves on a chip.

Radiation pressure from an ordinary, DVD-scale laser can make a dimple on a liquid’s surface.

A new laser design confines light with an array of air holes that resembles the porous structures in feathers.

A laser that emits visible light using atomic nuclei, rather than electrons, could be made from a thorium alloy. It could be a first step toward a gamma-ray laser.

Quick detection of photogenerated electrons in a quantum dot may lead to a better method to transfer quantum information between optical and electrical media.

A wave “diode” could use a nonlinear medium to allow light to travel in only one direction.

Photons (bosons) confined in a hollow waveguide containing an atomic gas could show spin-charge separation, which is more commonly associated with one-dimensional fermions.

Theorists can mathematically construct waves that propagate on straight-line paths through environments with many obstacles that would ordinarily cause scattering.

A new photon-counting technique is proposed for detecting excitations of an ultracold gas of atoms.

Entanglement, a crucial resource in quantum information theory, can also improve communication over a classical channel.

Optical spectroscopy in quantum dots finds new ways to explore an old many-body problem.