Follow along as Machine Design interviews John Ellis, an entrepreneur, inventor and founder of Massachusetts-based engineering consulting firm Optics for Hire. The Optics for Hire team—a group of ...

In a discovery that challenges conventional optics, scientists have managed to make a laser beam cast its own shadow—a feat previously thought impossible, as light typically passes through other light ...

Researchers have cracked a fundamental optical challenge: how to control both angle and wavelength of light independently—a problem that’s limited imaging and display technologies for years. By ...

For the experiment, a high-power green laser was directed through ruby cube and illuminated with a blue laser from the side. The green laser increases the optical absorption of the blue illuminating ...

Structured light passing through a noisy environment gets distorted (a), but if another unstructured beam also gains the same distortion, the effect can be undone by mixing them in a nonlinear crystal ...

Be it sensors, cameras, or displays: Metasurfaces have the potential to fundamentally improve optical systems in our everyday lives. By controlling light more precisely, they drive compact, ...

Classical physics theories suggest that when two or more electromagnetic waves interfere destructively (i.e., with their electric fields canceling each other out), they cannot interact with matter. In ...

UC Riverside researchers have unveiled a powerful new imaging technique that exposes how cutting-edge materials used in solar panels and light sensors convert light into electricity—offering a path to ...

Shadows have been integral to humanity’s exploration of light and its properties. From their depiction in ancient shadow puppetry to their role in groundbreaking scientific discoveries, shadows have ...

(Nanowerk News) Can light itself cast a shadow? It may sound like a philosophical riddle, but researchers have found that under certain conditions, a laser beam can act like an opaque object and cast ...