Optics

Gravitational Lensing: 'Einstein's Telescope' In Understanding The Cosmos

Scientists are harnessing the cosmos as a scientific “instrument” in their quest to determine the makeup of the universe.   Evalyn Gates calls from the University of Chicago calls it “Einstein’s telescope” but she actually means the phenomenon of gravitati ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 22 2009 - 2:28pm

Nonlinear Optics- How Bricks And Snow Could Show Us A Superfast Internet

The next time an overnight snow begins to fall, take two bricks and place them side by side a few inches apart in your yard.  In the morning, the bricks will be covered with snow and barely discernible. The snowflakes will have filled every vacant space be ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 17 2009 - 8:32pm

Earthshine- Reflection Of Earth From The Dark Side Of The Moon

Researchers from the University of Melbourne and Princeton University have shown for the first time that the difference in reflection of light from the Earth's land masses and oceans can be seen on the dark side of the moon, a phenomenon known as eart ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 7 2009 - 9:42am

Laser On A Chip- Life Expectancy For Quantum States Goes Up And So Do Applications

People are always going on about the life expectancy of babies and people in general.   Now quantum states are getting their due. For the first time, scientists have succeeded in measuring and controlling the lifetime of quantum states with potential use i ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 19 2009 - 11:11am

World's Fastest Camera Is 1000X Conventional Kinds

Ultrafast, light-sensitive video cameras are needed for observing high-speed events such as shockwaves, communication between living cells and a Usain Bolt sprint. To catch such elusive moments, a camera must be able to capture millions or billions of imag ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 30 2009 - 2:50pm

Micro Light Sabers- Tunable Liquid Lens Can Make A Directional Movable Laser

Tunable fluidic micro lenses can focus and direct light at will to count cells, evaluate molecules or create on-chip optical tweezers, according to a team of Penn State engineers. They may also provide imaging in medical devices, eliminating the necessity ...

Article - News Staff - May 11 2009 - 5:07pm

Darker Vegetables Have More Antioxidants, So Give Your Lettuce A Sun Tan

Ounce for ounce, spinach has more nutritional value than iceberg lettuce; in general, darker colors in leafy vegetables mean more antioxidants and therefore more health benefits. Knowing that, plant physiologists has developed a way to make lettuce darker ...

Article - News Staff - May 18 2009 - 3:46pm

All-Fiber Quantum Logic Using A Single Photon

A team of physicists and engineers have demonstrated all-fibre quantum logic, where single photons are generated and used to perform the contolled-NOT quantum logic gate in optical fibers with high fidelity. The only quantum technology in practical use tod ...

Article - News Staff - May 29 2009 - 12:00am

The Light And Dark Side Of... Light

There's a bipolar force with a repulsive side that doesn't involve cosmic opera or wooden acting- it's light.  And it can be used to control components on silicon microchips, meaning future nanodevices could be controlled by light rather tha ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 13 2009 - 1:30pm

Can You Test Einstein's Theory Of Relativity In The Lab?

Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes how the gravity of a massive object like a star can curve space and time, has been successfully used to predict the bending of starlight by the sun, small shifts in the orbit of the plane ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 20 2009 - 2:07pm