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Metasurfaces create super-sized neutral atom arrays for quantum computing

Schematic diagram of the beam arrangement, a set of atom traps arranged in a 2D shape resembling the Statue of Liberty, and a 600 × 600 array of optical tweezers

Shining laser light on a material produces subtle changes in its magnetic properties

New use for photolithography could have applications for data storage

Photo of three researchers in white clean room gear, pictured in a laboratory

Quantum state teleported between quantum dots at telecoms wavelengths

Frequency-converted photons are key to proof-of-principle experiment

Research headlines

Organic LED can electrically switch the handedness of emitted light

Quantum photonics network passes a scaling-up milestone

Conceptual image showing glowing semi-transparent boxes linked together in a grid

Phase-changing material generates vivid tunable colours

Electrical charge on objects in optical tweezers can be controlled precisely

New technique could shed light on electrification of aerosols

Ten-ion system brings us a step closer to large-scale qubit registers

Each ion is uniquely entangled with a photon

Fluid-based laser scanning technique could improve brain imaging

Laser scanning microscopy using a fluid-based prism to steer the light could help researchers learn more about neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease

Large-area triple-junction perovskite solar cell achieves record efficiency

Novel design strategies provide a step towards more efficient and stable perovskite–perovskite–silicon solar cells

Randomly textured lithium niobate gives snapshot spectrometer a boost

Compact system outperforms astronomical spectrometers

Entangled light leads to quantum advantage

Number of measurements required to learn about the behaviour of a complex, noisy quantum system reduced by a factor of 10¹¹

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Features

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

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

Oculomics: a window to the health of the body

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

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

Explore more in optics and photonics

Photonics West explores the future of optical technologies

SPIE Photonics West sees the global optics and photonics community come together to present and discuss the latest industry trends and research breakthroughs

San Francisco skyline with Oakland Bay bridge

Fabrication and device performance of Ni0/Ga₂O₃ heterojunction power rectifiers

Join the audience for a live webinar at 6 p.m. GMT/1 p.m EST on 19 November 2025

Discover how NiO/Ga₂O₃ heterojunction rectifiers unlock high-performance power electronics with breakthrough thermal, radiation, and structural resilience—driving innovation in EVs, AI data centers, and aerospace systems

New adaptive optics technology boosts the power of gravitational wave detectors

FROnt Surface Type Irradiator, or FROSTI, will allow future detectors to run at higher laser powers, reducing noise and expanding capabilities

Photo of two researchers in a clean room with the components of the prototype. They're wearing white bunny suits, gloves, and masks over their noses and mouths. The components are shiny and gold and laid out on a bench

Chip-integrated nanoantenna efficiently harvests light from diamond defects

Nearly all light emitted by nitrogen-vacancy centres can be collected, providing a boost for these room-temperature quantum technology platforms

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.

Image of the hollow-core fibre, a circle with a black background and five sets of three nested white circles around its inner edge

Broadband wireless gets even broader thanks to integrated transmitter

Device can process signals at frequencies ranging from below 1 GHz to more than 100 GHz

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.

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

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

Optical imaging tool could help diagnose and treat sudden hearing loss

Optical coherence tomography can detect fluid imbalance in the inner ear, which correlates with the severity of a patient’s hearing loss

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

A new hybrid copper iodide semiconductor converts nearly all the photoenergy it receives into blue light

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

Laser-driven implosion could produce megatesla magnetic fields

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

Conceptual illustration of bladed microtube implosion, showing how sawtooth-like blades inside the cylindrical target drive strong loop currents (shown as a pinkish swirl) and generate strong magnetic fields (shown as bright yellow loops around the target)

How hot can you make a solid before it melts?

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

A laser superheats a sample of gold. The gold is shown as a gold-coloured lattice while the laser is a bright beam of light. A rainbow coming off the lattice represents light being emitted at different wavelengths

New metalaser is a laser researcher’s dream

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

Diagram of the metalaser showing different emission profiles it can produce

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

New design is more efficient at driving electrons

Researchers inspect the new laser-driven FEL

Stacked perovskite photodetector outperforms conventional silicon image sensors

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

A palette of colours including blues, greens, reds, yellow, orange, pink, purple and various shades of black, grey and white. It looks a little like a Mondrian artwork

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

Images showing the blue, green, yellow, orange and red iridscent colours of squid splotches

Switchable metasurfaces deliver stronger light control

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

Dongqing Lin and Magnus Jonsson in the laboratory

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

Fibre and satellites connections span two continents

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