optoelectronics

While only some species of shrimp and insects can perceive polarization, the direction in which light vibrates, it provides a great deal of information about the objects with which it interacts. Cameras that see polarized light are…

LED lighting has swept the world, appearing in smart homes, streetlamps and even swimming pools and hot tubs. Lauded for their energy efficiency, flexibility, and ease of use, they appear to be the gold standard in lighting. Or are they?…

If tiny nanowire semiconductors could actually convert electricity into light and back again at the right wavelengths, their potential to speed up computers, make solar cells more efficient, and make LEDs more colorful would be achievable.…

Levitation may sound like the stuff of magic shows or New Age gurus, but California Institute of Technology researchers have designed a way to levitate and propel objects using only light, by creating specific nanoscale patterning on the…

Spectrally pure lasers are a core component of precision high-end scientific and commercial applications due to their ability to produce near-perfect single-color light. A laser's capacity to do so is measured in terms of its linewidth, or…

The absorption of light in semiconductor crystals without inversion symmetry can generate electric currents. Researchers at the Max-Born-Institute have now generated directed currents at terahertz (THz) frequencies, much higher than the…