Self-assembling materials called block copolymers, which are known to form a variety of predictable, regular patterns, can now be made into much more complex patterns that may open up new areas of ...

A simple, cheap, and highly effective approach to achieve large tuning range of optical transmittance through harnessing surface wrinkling–cracking patterns on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) films. The ...

Researchers from the University of Southampton (UK), and the Institut d'Optique in Bordeaux (France) have devised a new approach for controlling light in a silicon chip by bringing the concept of ...

Vision, microscopy, imaging, optical data projection and storage all depend on focusing of light. Dynamic focusing is conventionally achieved with mechanically reconfigurable lenses, spatial light ...

A light-sensitive crystal is opening the door to a new era of “light-written” technology. Arsenic trisulfide can be reshaped and permanently altered using simple light, creating ultra-fine optical ...

(Nanowerk Spotlight) The shape of a surface controls how it handles light. A smooth mirror sends a beam back in one direction. Bend that mirror or roughen it, and the reflected light changes direction ...

A teams of researchers from South Africa and Tunisia have demonstrated that adding light patterns to optical communications can bring significant bandwidth benefits. This new dimension in light ...

An optical illusion is a visual phenomenon where our perception of thinking about an image differs from objective reality. This image is seen as a Radiating Wavy Pattern Optical Illusion that appears ...

The basics of digital logic are pretty easy to master, and figuring out how the ones and zeroes flow through various kinds of gates is often an interesting exercise. Taking things down a level and ...

Researchers have devised a new approach for controlling light in a silicon chip by bringing the concept of spatial light modulation to integrated optics. Silicon photonics are forming the backbone of ...