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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded for research inspired by jellyfish. This is a reminder that the natural world continues to hint at solutions to modern technological dilemmas, and that when it comes to simple and effective solutions, nature is usually well ahead of man.
Famous for its use in clothing since early times, silk is now finding a new application as a useful biocompatible material in photonic devices. Thin films, diffraction gratings and organic photonic crystals are just a few of the exciting possibilities.
The ability of Airy light beams to transport microparticles along curved, self-healed paths may lead to useful applications in biology and colloidal science.
Low-cost, efficient solar cells are sought as an alternative to silicon photovoltaics. Here a dye-based bifacial solar cell that is capable of efficient generation of electricity for light incident on either its front or rear face is demonstrated.
Hollow-core photonic-crystal fibres enable confinement of light on a much tighter scale than is possible with conventional fibre. But dispersion makes it difficult to transmit very short, sub 100 fs, pulses over long distances. A chirped structure could offer a solution.
Tiny optical cavities can influence spontaneous emission of light from atoms and their artificial equivalent, quantum dots. In the past, two–dimensional photonic crystals have been used to create such cavities for quantum dots, now a three–dimensional structure enables full confinement of light in all directions.
Focusing ultrashort red and blue laser pulses into a gas generates terahertz pulses with unprecedented pulse energies. Such pulses enable nonlinear terahertz spectroscopy and the time-resolved study of field-induced effects.
The photonics applications of engineered liquid crystals extend far beyond their use in displays. High-density optical data storage, tunable lasers and metamaterials are just a few of the other opportunities.
As the demand for sophisticated imaging systems grows, adaptive lenses with fast-focusing capability become indispensable. Nature Photonics spoke to Amir H. Hirsa from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute about the oscillating liquid lens that he and his co-author have demonstrated.
Gaining the readers' interests should not come at the expense of veracity. Getting the facts correct when communicating science to the general public is essential.
Researchers demonstrate fast optical focusing using an oscillating liquid lens. The method could lead to the development of three-dimensional imaging instruments with rapid data collection.
The ability to align optical components to tighter tolerances and in less time is the continual goal of designers of manipulation equipment, reports Neil Savage.
The human eye is a simple, but extremely robust, optical instrument. Analysis by sophisticated wavefront-sensing technology and customized ray-tracing has now revealed that the eye is actually an aplanatic design, with the cornea and lens compensating each other's aberrations.
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory in the USA is searching for gravitational-wave emissions from cataclysmic astrophysical events. The task has required the construction of the world's largest and most sensitive optical strain sensor.
