Optical Photonics
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May 21 | News
In
experiments with gamma rays in France, researchers have recently proven
that these extremely high-energy electromagnetic waves can be focused
by lenses like conventional light. This finding that gamma rays can be
refracted overturns a fundamental assumption of theoretical physics.
May 3 | News
An
optical switch recently developed at the Joint Quantum Institute can
steer a beam of light from one direction to another in only 120
picosecs, requiring very little power and only about 90 attojoules. At
the wavelength used, in the near-infrared (921 nm), this amounts to only
about 140 photons.
Apr 30 | News
The
title of world’s most accurate clock has been transferred from devices
based on the steady oscillations of the cesium atom to clocks based on
optical transitions. Before this newfound precision can redefine the
second, or lead to new applications like ultra-precise navigation, the
system used to communicate time around the globe will need an upgrade.
Researchers have recently demonstrated how this could be accomplished.
Apr 20 | News
Using lasers to excite just one atom from a cloud of ultracold rubidium
gas,
physicists have developed a new way to rapidly and efficiently create
single
photons for potential use in optical quantum information processing—and
in the
study of dynamics and disorder in certain physical systems.
Apr 12 | News
Powerful
microprocessors in computers today use vast quantities of data and
perform millions of calculations per second, but the connections simply
cannot shift electrons fast enough. Wadimos, an effort in Europe to
develop process technology for building wavelength division multiplexed
photonic layers on CMOS chips is an effort to bring photon-fast
performance to chip connections.
Apr 10 | News
In
optomechanics studies, most researchers use a moving mirror made up of
16 to 40 layers of dielectric film with different indices of refraction,
culminating in a stack structure a few micrometers thick. With this
they measure the force of light on mechanical features. A team of
scientists in Germany, however, have designed and tested a device that
is both smaller and two orders of magnitude more effective.
Apr 6 | News
Scientists in NIST's Physical Measurement Laboratory's
Quantum Measurement Division have produced the first superluminal light
pulses
made by using a technique called four-wave mixing, creating two separate
pulses
whose peaks propagate faster than the speed of light in a vacuum.
Mar 29 | News
National Physical Laboratory time scientists have made
an accurate measurement of the highly forbidden octupole transition
frequency
in an ytterbium ion, which could be used as the basis for the next
generation
of optical atomic clocks.
Mar 28 | News
A team of physicists at the University of California, Santa Barbara has seen the light, and it comes in many different colors. By aiming high- and low-frequency laser beams at a semiconductor, the researchers caused electrons to be ripped from their cores, accelerated, and then smashed back into the cores they left behind. This recollision produced multiple frequencies of light simultaneously.
Mar 28 | News
Previous
efforts to integrated lasers in silicon chips have relied on and
air-and-semiconductor interface, but this has resulted in poor emission
efficiency. Researchers in Singapore have invented a solution called a
micro-loop mirror that acts as a waveguide to improve operation to 98%
light reflection efficiency.
