Optics and photonics Archives

Optics and photonics

Home » Optics and photonics

Latest articles

Illustration showing photon emission from a nanodiamond being directed by a bullseye antenna. The bullseye antenna is shown flat, and seven parallel orange arrows representing photons emerge from different parts of the bullseye, like candles on a birthday cake. At the centre of the bullseye is a diamond

Chip-integrated nanoantenna efficiently harvests light from diamond defects

High-speed 3D microscope improves live imaging of fast biological processes

Multifocus microscope uses 25 tiny cameras to image rapid biological processes over the entire volume of small living organisms

New hollow-core fibres break a 40-year limit on light transmission

Researchers at Microsoft and the University of Southampton create fibres that cut signal loss, boost bandwidth and promise faster, greener communications.

Research headlines

Image showing a model city with various data transmission use cases highlighted. Base stations used to cover rural areas use sub-6G frequencies. Various base stations used in ultra-dense areas use microwave wavelengths. Satellite and vehicle-to-everything communications use millimetre wavelength. Holographic and remote surgery uses sub-THz to THz wavelengths. A set of circuits and signals at the bottom of the diagram shows how signals become noisier with conversion from one band to another.

Broadband wireless gets even broader thanks to integrated transmitter

Optical imaging tool could help diagnose and treat sudden hearing loss

Crystals emitting deep-blue light. A scale bar at the bottom indicates that the crystals are millimetre-scale

Deep-blue LEDs get a super-bright, non-toxic boost

Laser-driven implosion could produce megatesla magnetic fields

Simulations of improved technique generate fields as strong as those found near neutron stars

How hot can you make a solid before it melts?

Superheated gold stays solid at temperatures far beyond the predicted "entropy catastrophe"

New metalaser is a laser researcher’s dream

Nanostructured lasing system creates arbitrarily-shaped wavefronts, making it possible to control laser emission at will

New laser-plasma accelerator could soon deliver X-ray pulses

New design is more efficient at driving electrons

Stacked perovskite photodetector outperforms conventional silicon image sensors

New device could lead to sensitive, artefact-free imaging with improved colour fidelity

Squid use Bragg reflectors in their skin to change colour

New holotomography measurements reveal that the tuneable optical properties of these cephalopods come from winding columns of platelets in iridescent cells

Optics newsletter

Sign up for our optics newsletter! Sent twice a year, we will collate the recent highlights in optics research, industry news and long reads and bring them straight to your inbox. Simply sign in to your account and tick the “Optics – biannual” box to register.

Features

3D model of the High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) synchrotron building

China’s High Energy Photon Source prepares to light up the world

Hands holding a small piece of medical equipment in front of a patient's eye

Oculomics: a window to the health of the body

Rethinking physics: Silvia Vignolini on succeeding at the boundary between disciplines

Explore more in optics and photonics

Illustration of Crainio's sensor with a sticker attached to a person's head and a box containing the electronics

Crainio’s Panicos Kyriacou explains how their light-based instrument can help diagnose brain injury

Panicos Kyriacou talks about the development and uses of Crainio's non-invasive sensor to measure intracranial pressure

Dongqing Lin and Magnus Jonsson in the laboratory

Switchable metasurfaces deliver stronger light control

Optimizing the geometric parameters of polymer nanoantenna arrays significantly improves the performance of optical metasurfaces

New definition of second ticks closer after international optical-clock comparison

Fibre and satellites connections span two continents

Bright light emitted from an orange disc

Soliton structure protects superfluorescence

New work could help in the development of materials that host exotic coherent quantum states under ambient conditions

Single silicon chip processes optical and microwave signals

Researchers create a photonic engine that can manipulate microwave and optical signals and convert the signals between the two domains

Nick Stone and Tami Freeman on stage at the Celebration of Physics

Harnessing the power of light for healthcare

Nick Stone discusses some of the many ways in which light can be used for diagnostic and therapeutic applications

Laser World of Photonics showcases cutting-edge optical innovation

Attendees at this year’s Laser World of Photonics trade show can discover the latest trends in photonics technology, attend workshops and technical presentations, and interact wi...

Tiny laser delivers high-quality, narrowband light for metrology

Laser diode device enables rapid measurement

Illustration showing an orange sphere hovering in space within a dark blue hemispherical curved mirror. A standing light wave, shown in red, reflects from the mirror and a stream of information, represented by 1s and 0s written in a wavelike form, radiates outward

Quantum effect could tame noisy nanoparticles by rendering them invisible

Theoretical proposal suggests a way of eliminating backaction noise in nanoparticles levitated with light

Ferenc Krausz explains how ultrashort laser pulses could help detect disease

Nobel laureate also talks about science education for children displaced by war

Photo of the Lightmatter device. A long bluish-grey rectangle flanked by thinner gold rectangles is mounted on a larger black rectangle. Wires lead in and out of the device.

Photonic computer chips perform as well as purely electronic counterparts, say researchers

New light-based chips could boost machine leaning

Optical micrograph of the quantum transducer

Quantum transducer enables optical control of a superconducting qubit

Physicists create the first device that can control a superconducting microwave qubit using only light

FLIR MIX image of champagne being uncorked

FLIR MIX – a breakthrough in infrared and visible imaging

Join the audience for a live webinar at 2 p.m. BST/3 p.m. CEST on 19 May 2025, sponsored by Teledyne FLIR LLC

Abnormal ‘Arnold’s tongue’ patterns appear in a real oscillating system

Ultrafast laser sheds new light on complex synchronization phenomena

Oz principle for stimulating the human retina

Retinal stimulation reveals colour never before seen by the human eye

The Oz technique stimulates individual photoreceptor cells on the retina to directly control their activation

A bunch of golden dots form a wave against a black background

New entanglement approach could boost photonic quantum computing

Harnessing the mathematical concept of non-Abelian holonomy makes it possible to entangle photons deterministically, say theorists

LED light bulbs hanging from the ceiling

James McKenzie: how I knew the writing was on the wall for our rival’s lighting technology

James McKenzie says that if businesses don’t evaluate customer feedback they’re in danger of going to the wall

Multiphoton microscopy image of lung tissue

Simultaneous two- and three-photon imaging enables rapid cancer diagnosis

Portable multiphoton microscopy system uses femtosecond laser pulses to create pathology-quality diagnostic images

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
...
Next
Last

Related jobs

Related events

Medical physics | Virtual event Virtual International Day of Medical Physics 2025 7 November 2025
Solar cells | Conference Photovoltaics Science, Applications and Technology Conference (PVSAT-2026) 22—24 April 2026 | Newcastle, UK
Optics and photonics | Conference Photon 2026 31 August — 3 September 2026 | Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

Reset your password

Registration complete