At the smallest scales, materials are never entirely still. Atoms in a crystal continuously vibrate around their resting positions, and some of these vibrations, called phonons, have well-defined energies that can interact with light. Normally, light and a material vibration can be treated as separate things. But when their interaction becomes strong enough, they can […]
Molecules are never truly still. Even in apparently stable matter, atoms vibrate continuously, stretching and bending the chemical bonds that hold them together. These vibrations are not random noise: they determine how molecules absorb light, exchange energy, and undergo chemical reactions. One of the central challenges in chemistry is learning how to direct energy into […]
New research numerically demonstrates how carefully structured materials can control light in ways that are both precise and robust. It brings together ideas from photonics and topology to show how a laser can emerge from the boundary between two distinct optical regimes. The physical system considered in the study is a bilayer photonic crystal. A […]
In recent decades, researchers have developed advanced techniques to detect and manipulate individual photons. A particularly intriguing field examines how nanoscale light emitters, resembling artificial atoms, produce these photons. In this vein, a new study addresses a subtle question: when two such emitters release photons that are red-shifted due to energy loss, do these photons […]
Imagine a sheet of material so incredibly thin it’s just one atom thick, yet it can capture and guide light in ways that defy our everyday intuition. This isn’t science fiction—it’s graphene, a wonder material made from carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Now, picture slicing this sheet into tiny ribbons, arranging them in […]
At first glance, molecules seem too small and too chaotic to be controlled with light. Their atoms jiggle ceaselessly, driven by thermal energy, and their vibrations—tiny oscillations of chemical bonds—usually remain hidden in the background. But recent work has shown that we can, in fact, use light not only to measure these vibrations but also […]
Light can do remarkable things, but it has limitations. Ordinary photons are bound by diffraction, which sets a limit on how tightly they can be confined in space. This is why focusing light to spots smaller than about half its wavelength is so difficult. But in certain materials, photons couple to vibrations of atoms or […]
Quantum simulation, a concept that once seemed like science fiction, is now revolutionizing the way physicists study the quantum world. The idea, famously suggested by Richard Feynman in the 1980s, is to use a controllable quantum system to mimic the behaviour of another system that is too complex to study directly. Over time, researchers have […]
Imagine a world where light, instead of merely bouncing off surfaces or passing through transparent materials, is controlled in a completely new and unexpected way. Scientists have recently taken a major step in this direction by discovering what is called a “photonic axion insulator.” While this term might sound complicated, the underlying idea is both […]
In the realm of modern technology, controlling light at the smallest scales is crucial for advancements in areas like medical imaging, environmental sensing, and the development of new computing technologies. A recent study explores innovative methods to manipulate light emission from individual molecules, paving the way for significant progress in these fields. The role of […]