Fastest Laser Blast – 67 Quintillionths of a Second
Scientists have been able to generate the world’s fastest laser pulse with a beam shot for 67 attoseconds (0.000000000000000067 seconds). This breaks the previous record…
Optics
Twisting Affects Transmission Behavior of Photonic Crystal Fibers
Max Planck Institute scientists examined the transmission behavior of photonic crystal fibers when they were twisted, finding that the transmission of certain wavelengths becomes much…
Gamma Ray Lens Created Using Amplifying Effect of Virtual Electron-Positron Pairs
It was previously thought that making a lens out of highly energetic light, gamma rays, was impossible. Physicists have created such a lens and think…
First Universal Quantum Network Prototype Operational
Quantum physicists have constructed an elementary network for storing and exchanging quantum information. The network was setup with two all-purpose nodes, which can send, receive…
Laser Beams Used to Create Filament Paths Could Potentially Direct Lightning
Lasers beams have been used for the first time to trigger and divert lightning bolts. It was first postulated in the 1990s that lasers could…
NuSTAR’s 9,000 Mirrors are Only 200 Microns Thick
NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) has a total of 9,000 individual mirror segments that are only 200 microns thick and will be the first…
Giant Magellan Telescope Gets 7 28-Foot Mirrors and Adaptive Optics
The Giant Magellan Telescope is designed to employ a series of seven 28-foot mirrors, which will be arranged in a honeycomb pattern. It will be…
Adaptive Optics Will Put Gemini Twin Telescopes at the Forefront of Astronomy Again
Together, the twin telescopes of the Gemini Observatory, which consists of two 8.1 m (27 ft) telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, provide almost complete coverage…