Optics and photonics

Latest articles

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

New entanglement approach could boost photonic quantum computing

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

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

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

Research headlines

Radicchio seedlings grown under glass and perovskite rooftops

Solar cell greenhouse accelerates plant growth

CO₂ laser enables long-range detection of radioactive material

Optical sensors could improve the comfort of indoor temperatures

Flexible tactile sensor reads braille in real time

A tactile sensor based on an optical fibre ring resonator helps blind or partially sighted people interact seamlessly with braille-based devices

New method recycles quantum dots used in microscopic lasers

Expensive and sometimes toxic elements can be reused in new devices

Magnetically controlled microbots are small enough to diffract visible light

Untethered microscopic robots offer new ways of probing the microscopic world

Laser beam casts a shadow in a ruby crystal

Complex photon-photon interactions make a beam of light behave like a solid object

Electromagnetic waves solve partial differential equations

New photonic technique could boost analogue alternatives to numerical methods

Ultrafast electron entanglement could be studied using helium photoemission

Calculations suggest sub-femtosecond resolution is possible

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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

Photonics West shines a light on optical innovation

SPIE Photonics West brings the global optics and photonics community together in San Francisco to share the latest research and technology breakthroughs

Lens breakthrough paves the way for ultrathin cameras

A metasurface-based folded lens system shows promise for creating a new generation of slimline cameras

Four-wave mixing could boost optical communications in space

Nonlinear effect amplifies weak signals

7-11-2024 Oxford solar cell researchers list

How to boost the sustainability of solar cells

Roadmap authors look to the future of photovoltaic technologies in this podcast

First human retinal image brings sight-saving portable OCT a step closer

Siloton’s handheld OCT system could soon be used for home-based monitoring of retinal disease, and may one day find its way onto future space missions

Chip-based optical tweezers manipulate microparticles and cells from a distance

Integrated optical phased array uses a tightly focused beam of light to trap and manipulate biological particles

Liquid-crystal bifocal lens excels at polarization and edge imaging

Applied voltage adjusts intensity at twin focal points

Camera takes inspiration from cats’ eyes to improve imaging performance

Device might be employed in applications such as autonomous vehicles, drones and surveillance systems

Penn State researchers Xingjie Ni and Zhiwen Liu

Metasurface-enhanced camera performs hyperspectral and polarimetric imaging

Inexpensive metasurface could revolutionize the capabilities of conventional imaging systems

Ask me anything: Fatima Gunning – ‘Thinking outside the box is a winner when it comes to problem solving’

Physicist Fatima Gunning explains how mentorship has helped her grow as a researcher and teacher

Series of visible-light colours generated by a microring resonator

New on-chip laser fills long sought-after green gap

Devices will be important for applications in quantum sensing and computing, biology, underwater communications and display technologies

Artist's impression of heat waves rising coherently from a structured metasurface

Metasurface makes thermal sources emit laser-like light

Pillar-studded surface just hundreds of nanometres thick allows researchers to control direction, polarization and phase of thermal radiation

Free-space optical communications with FPGA-based instrumentation

Available to watch now. Liquid Instruments explores how to implement optical modulation and detection techniques with a reconfigurable, FPGA-based device

Image showing a stylized circuit board with strings of 0's and 1's in the background

AI-assisted photonic detector identifies fake semiconductor chips

New technique could reduce risks of unwanted surveillance, chip failure and theft, say researchers

The various photonic orbital shapes observed by the researchers, which are much more complex than the lobe- and sphere-like shapes of electron orbitals.

Photonic orbitals shape up

The behaviour of photons confined inside three-dimensional cavity superlattices is much more complex than that of electrons in conventional solid-state materials

Hannah Stern: how new materials are driving the quantum revolution

Hannah Stern explains why the quantum revolution needs a new toolkit of materials

Ask me anything: Andrew Weld: ‘You’re probably going to be working for over 40 years, so make sure you enjoy what you do’

Andrew Weld is the head of research and development at QLM technologies

JEM-EUSO’s Mini-EUSO telescope deployed inside the ISS

Cosmic-ray physics: detector advances open up the ultrahigh-energy frontier

Gearing up in the search for ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays

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Related events

Optics and photonics | Workshop Complex Photonic Systems with Broken Symmetries: Synergetic Effects of Wave Chaos and Non-Hermiticity 17—26 June 2025 | Dresden, Germany
Optics and photonics | Exhibition Laser World of Photonics 2025 24—27 June 2025 | Munich, Germany
Optics and photonics | Conference 9th International Conference on Laser Peening and Related Phenomena (ICLPRP) 28 September — 3 October 2025 | Prague, Czech Republic

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