Optics

Optical WLAN- Downloads At The Speed Of Light

The future of networking may mean streaming high-definition movies at blazing fast speeds and the routers are the lights in the room. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI in Berlin, Germany, have deve ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 2 2011 - 6:03pm

How To Make A Rainbow

My wife and I once saw a rainbow and we discussed how it happened. She listened somewhat patiently for the first few sentences and then told me I was spoiling the magic of the rainbow, like it was somehow less romantic if she knew how it happened. (1) Men, ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Aug 2 2011 - 7:30pm

Airy Beams- Light Rays Moving Without Diffraction In A Curved Arc In Free Space

One of the earliest lessons science students learn is that a beam of light travels in a straight line and fan out, or diffract, as they travel. Recently it was discovered that light rays can travel without diffraction in a curved arc in free space. These r ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 12 2011 - 2:52pm

What Color Is An Orange?

What Color Is An Orange? A question like that, here at science20.com, just has to be a trick question. It is possible, by the application of common sense arguments, to prove to a scientific level of certainty that an orange is absolutely not orange. How d ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Aug 14 2011 - 10:04am

Whirlpools Of Light Lead To Nanostructured Glass

New nano-structured glass optical elements could significantly reduce the cost of medical imaging. In their Applied Physics Letters paper, the team describes how they have used nano-structures to develop new monolithic glass space-variant polarization con ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 14 2011 - 8:27pm

Toward An Optofluidic Solar Lighting System

Optofluidic solar lighting systems could mean a real boost in solar energy- they capture sunlight from a roof using a light concentrating system that follows the sun's path by changing the angle of the water's refraction, and then distribute the ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 11 2011 - 12:53pm

Triple Rainbows Confirmed To Exist (And Apparently Quadruple)

We've done articles on rainbows, and double rainbows and even showed you how to make a rainbow appear for that special someone- but have you ever seen a triple rainbow? ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 5 2011 - 11:48am

Cosmic Ray Detecting Thermometer

CMOS Imaging sensors are the sensor of choice for most consumer digital cameras. They tend to be cheap, low power, compatible with the fabrication equipment that much of modern digital electronics is manufactured on, and other than the very early generati ...

Article - Mi Cro - Mar 9 2012 - 5:36pm

Optical 'Periscope'- A Camera That Can See Around Corners

A new imaging system uses walls, doors or floors as 'mirrors' to gather information about scenes that it can't see, even though those objects are not reflective. Yes, it could ultimately lead to imaging systems that allow emergency responder ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 20 2012 - 2:12pm

Optomechanical Crystal: Future Blue Oyster Cult Concerts Will Be Awesome

Caltech researchers have created a nanoscale crystal device that allows them to confine both light and sound vibrations in the same tiny space. The interactions between sound and light in this optomechanical crysta can result in mechanical vibrations with ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 25 2012 - 9:59pm