Graphene Bolometer is Faster, Simpler and Covers More Wavelengths
Bolometers, devices that monitor electromagnetic radiation through heating of an absorbing material, are used by astronomers and homeowners alike. But most such devices have limited…
Photonics
New Type of Silicon Laser Uses Sound Waves to Amplify Light
Yale scientists have created a new type of silicon laser that uses sound waves to amplify light. A study about the discovery appears in the…
Engineers Enhance the Interactions Between Light and Matter
A new way of enhancing the interactions between light and matter, developed by researchers at MIT and Israel’s Technion, could someday lead to more efficient…
Integrating Photonics with Silicon Nanoelectronics Into Chip Designs
New technique would allow addition of optical communication components to existing chips with little modification of their designs. Two and a half years ago, a…
Optoelectronic Chips Reduce Energy Usage, Increase Speed
Startup’s optoelectronic chips could reduce energy usage by up to 50 percent in data centers while increasing computing speeds. With novel optoelectronic chips and a…
Nanotweezers Open the Door to New Innovations in Medicine, Mobile Tech
It’s difficult to conceptualize a world where humans could casually manipulate nanoscale objects at will or even control their own biological matter at a cellular…
MIT Physicists Create a New Form of Light Where Photons Interact
Try a quick experiment: Take two flashlights into a dark room and shine them so that their light beams cross. Notice anything peculiar? The rather…
Engineers Design New LED-Based Train Headlight Optimized for Energy Savings
Researchers have designed a new LED-based train headlight that uses a tenth of the energy required for headlights using conventional light sources. If operated 8…
Scientists Observe New Exotic Phenomena in Photonic Crystals
Topological effects, such as those found in crystals whose surfaces conduct electricity while their bulk does not, have been an exciting topic of physics research…
Physicists Improve Optical Efficiency in Hexagonal Boron Nitride
A team of physicists, headed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), have demonstrated the means to improve the optical loss characteristics and transmission efficiency…
Researchers Develop Double-Pane Solar Windows That Generate Electricity
Using two types of “designer” quantum dots, researchers are creating double-pane solar windows that generate electricity with greater efficiency and create shading and insulation for…
Engineers Develop Flexible and Stretchable Photonic Devices
Engineers at MIT have developed a new material that can be repeatedly stretched and flexed without losing its optical properties. Researchers at MIT and several…
NIST Researchers Develop Nanoscale Devices That Respond to the Angle of Incident Light
Imagine a miniature device that suffuses each room in your house with a different hue of the rainbow—purple for the living room, perhaps, blue for…
Light-Emitting Diode and Photodetector for Silicon CMOS Chips
Researchers from MIT have designed a light-emitter and detector that can be integrated into silicon CMOS chips. The huge increase in computing performance in recent…
Researchers Manipulate Nanoscale Particles with Light
Scientists from MIT have created in simulations the first system in which particles — ranging from roughly molecule to bacteria-sized — can be manipulated by…
MIT Engineers Develop Programmable Nanophotonic Processor
A team of engineers propose a new architecture for a fully optical neural network that, in principle, could offer an enhancement in computational speed and…
MIT Engineers Develop New Technique for Highly Conductive Graphene Wafers
By using an adhesive-like layer of nickel to peel graphene from silicon carbide, engineers at MIT have developed a technique to produce highly conductive wrinkle-free…
MIT Engineers Demonstrate Second-Order Nonlinearity in Silicon
New research from MIT reveals a practical way to introduce second-order nonlinearities into silicon photonics, showing that silicon can reproduce physical phenomena exploited by high-end…