Browse Physics

Thomas Philbin, Physics 2, 17 (2009) – Published March 2, 2009

Optics

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

Published February 2, 2009

Optics

A laser beam in a squeezed state may be an effective source for cooling a macroscopic resonator.

Irina Novikova, Physics 2, 7 (2009) – Published January 26, 2009

Optics

The blurring effects of diffraction pose an obstacle to transmitting an image with all-optical technology. A method to reduce diffraction that takes advantage of the thermal motion of atoms could prove a way to keep images sharp.

Martin Wegener, Stefan Linden, Physics 2, 3 (2009) – Published January 12, 2009

Optics

Metamaterials can be designed to rotate light as it passes through them. If the effect is strong enough, it can lead to the material having a negative index of refraction and light bouncing around very differently than expected.

Published December 15, 2008

Atomic & Molecular Physics Optics

Lasers can make an opaque material transparent, but to determine how long this state survives, you have to shut off the lights.

Alexandre Blais, Jay M. Gambetta, Physics 1, 39 (2008) – Published December 8, 2008

Quantum Information Optics

Preparing a harmonic oscillator in a state with a well-defined energy is a tricky business. With the new tools provided by cavity and circuit quantum electrodynamics it is now possible to make these pure quantum states and watch how they evolve in time.

Published November 6, 2008

Optics Quantum Mechanics

The optical equivalent of electron oscillations in periodic lattices has now been described by a fully quantum mechanical theory.

Published October 30, 2008

Atomic & Molecular Physics Optics

Successive and rapid measurements of a quantum system can prevent it from evolving in time. This quantum Zeno effect has now been demonstrated for light inside a cavity.

Published October 6, 2008

Optics

Spatial maps of the photon energy emitted by plasmons on a metal surface reveal standing wave patterns caused by electron confinement.

Published September 29, 2008

Optics

Coupled semiconductor lasers can be used to generate controllable soliton emission patterns.

Jeremy L. O’Brien, Physics 1, 23 (2008) – Published September 22, 2008

Quantum Information Optics

Laser beams made up of millions of sharply defined and coherently locked optical frequencies, called optical frequency combs, may provide a way to implement a powerful quantum computer.

Published September 22, 2008

Magnetism Optics

Researchers in Japan have identified spin excitations in multiferroics that can be driven by electric fields.

John Pendry, Physics 1, 20 (2008) – Published September 15, 2008

Optics

Thick layers of disordered materials, such as milk or snow, scatter light so that very little of it gets through. Theorists say that a properly designed combination of incident light waves would be almost completely transmitted and we now have experimental proof of this remarkable result.

Published August 25, 2008

Optics Quantum Information

Squeezed states can enhance the sensitivity of a detector and the storage capability of quantum memory devices. Because these features improve with an increase in system size, researchers are exploring ways to produce squeezed states in large ensembles of atoms.

Published August 18, 2008

Nanophysics Optics

The response of nanostructured metal strips to an electromagnetic field may turn out to be similar to that of atomic gases. Periodic arrays of these artificial metal “molecules” could in principle form a metamaterial that slows light pulses and is easily integrated into optical circuits.

Published July 14, 2008

Nanophysics Optics

Single photon emission is normally only observed in systems, such as atoms, that are quantum confined in all directions. Now, scientists have shown that carbon nanotubes, which are quasi-one-dimensional materials, can also act as single photon emitters.