Tag Archive for 'Laser'

Black holes are the sources of the strongest gravitational fields that can be found today in the Universe and are ideal laboratories for testing Einstein’s theory of general relativity in the strong field regime. In his article, Professor Bambi shows that the possibility of an interstellar mission to send a small spacecraft to the nearest black hole, although very speculative and extremely challenging, is not completely unrealistic. Image credit: Cosimo Bambi, doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113142.

Astrophysicist Proposes Interstellar Mission to Study Black Holes

Aug 11, 2025 by News Staff

In a new paper published in the journal iScience, an astrophysicist from Fudan University discusses the possibility of sending a nanocraft to a black hole...

Illustration of photon-photon scattering in the laboratory: two green petawatt lasers beams collide at the focus with a third red beam to polarise the quantum vacuum; this allows a fourth blue laser beam to be generated, with a unique direction and color, which conserves momentum and energy. Image credit: Zixin (Lily) Zhang.

Physicists Study How Light Interacts with Quantum Vacuum

Jun 5, 2025 by News Staff

Physicists have achieved the first-ever real-time, 3D simulations of how intense laser beams alter the quantum vacuum — a state once assumed to be...

Biswas et al. observed how electrons, excited by ultrafast light pulses, danced in unison around a buckminsterfullerene molecule, then emitted excess energy in the form of several electrons. Image credit: RMT Bergues.

Physicists Observe Synchronized Dance of Electrons on Buckminsterfullerene Molecule

Feb 19, 2025 by News Staff

Physicists from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Hamburg have observed how electrons, excited by ultrafast light pulses, danced...

Ilyas et al. demonstrated the efficient manipulation of the magnetic ground state in layered magnets through non-thermal pathways using terahertz light and established regions near critical points with enhanced order parameter fluctuations as promising areas to search for metastable hidden quantum states. Image credit: Adam Glanzman.

Scientists Magnetize Antiferromagnetic Material with Terahertz Laser Light

Dec 26, 2024 by News Staff

Physicists at MIT have directly stimulated atoms in an antiferromagnetic material using a terahertz laser, a light source that oscillates more than a trillion...

The shadow of a laser beam. Image credit: Abrahao et al., doi: 10.1364/optica.534596.

Under Right Conditions, Laser Beam Can Cast Shadow

Nov 14, 2024 by News Staff

In a new paper published today in the journal Optica, physicists describe how a laser beam can be made to cast a shadow that behaves as any other ordinary...

The 5D memory crystal. Image credit: University of Southampton.

Researchers Store Entire Human Genome on ‘Everlasting’ 5D Memory Crystal

Sep 20, 2024 by News Staff

Unlike other data storage formats that degrade over time, 5D memory crystals can store up to 360 terabytes of information without loss for billions of...

Structure of SOT spin-LED: controlling the intensity of emitted light and charge current is the basis of transferring and processing information; by contrast, robust information storage and magnetic random-access memories are implemented using the spin of the carrier and the associated magnetization in ferromagnets; the missing link between the respective disciplines of photonics, electronics and spintronics is to modulate the circular polarization of the emitted light, rather than its intensity, by electrically controlled magnetization; Dainone et al. demonstrated that this missing link is established at room temperature and zero applied magnetic field in light-emitting diodes through the transfer of angular momentum between photons, electrons and ferromagnets. Image credit: Dainone et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07125-5.

Physicists Transfer Electron Spin to Photons

Mar 28, 2024 by News Staff

A team of physicists led by Dr. Yuan Lu from the Université de Lorraine’s Institut Jean Lamour has used electrical pulses to manipulate magnetic information...

The different rotational directions of the various ‘dumbbells’ indicate that the atoms lie in different planes. Image credit: Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bonn.

Physicists Demonstrate New Method for Determining 3D Location of Single Atoms

Mar 5, 2024 by News Staff

The new method, developed by a team of physicists from the University of Bonn and the University of Bristol, makes it possible to precisely determine the...

A computer screen shows Taters the cat in a still from the first high-definition streaming video to be sent via laser from deep space, as well as the incoming data stream delivering the frames from the video. Image credit: NASA.

NASA Streams Cat Video from Deep Space via Laser

Dec 20, 2023 by News Staff

A 15-second ultra-high-definition video, featuring a cat named Taters, was streamed via laser from a record-setting 31 million km (19 million miles, or...

Spatial wavefront of a narrowband laser beam is shaped by a spatial light modulator and excites many modes in a multimode fiber. Image credit: Chen et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-42806-1.

Physicists Find New Way to Increase Power of Fiber Lasers

Nov 21, 2023 by News Staff

An international team of physicists has demonstrated the potential use of multimode optical fiber to scale up power in fiber lasers by three-to-nine times...

Neanderthals are commonly thought to have relied on dangerous close range hunting techniques, using non-projectile weapons like the thrusting spears depicted here; this hunting approach is thought to have brought them into violent contact with large mammals, resulting in high levels of injury especially to the head and neck when compared to modern humans; Beier et al found similar head injury levels in both Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic humans, casting doubt on this hypothesis. Image credit: Gleiver Prieto.

Strontium Isotope Analysis Provides Insights into Hunting Habits and Diets of Neanderthals

May 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

In new research, scientists examined chemical properties locked inside tooth enamel of two Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals and a Magdalenian human from...

GRX-810. Image credit: NASA / Jordan Salkin.

NASA Researchers Create 3D-Printable Superalloy for Extreme Environments: GRX-810

Apr 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using a model-driven alloy design approach and laser-based additive manufacturing, materials scientists at NASA have developed a new oxide-dispersion-strengthened...

Strongly driven systems of emitters offer an attractive source of light over broad spectral ranges up to the X-ray region. A key limitation of these systems is that the light they emit is mostly classical. Pizzi et al. overcome this constraint by building a quantum-optical theory of strongly driven many-body systems, showing that the presence of correlations among the emitters creates emission of non-classical many-photon states of light. Image credit: DeepAI / Sci.News.

Theoretical Physicists Devise New Path toward High-Energy ‘Quantum Light’

Feb 2, 2023 by News Staff

Physicists have developed a novel theory describing a new state of light, which has controllable quantum properties over a broad range of frequencies,...

The 124-m-high telecommunication tower of Säntis in Switzerland; also shown is the path of the laser recorded with its second harmonic at 515 nm. Image credit: Houard et al., doi: 10.1038/s41566-022-01139-z.

Firing Intense Laser Pulses at the Sky Can Divert Lightning

Jan 17, 2023 by News Staff

Scientists have demonstrated that laser-induced filaments — formed in the sky by short and intense laser pulses — can guide lightning discharges...

To create fusion ignition, NIF’s laser energy is converted into X-rays inside the hohlraum, which then compress a fuel capsule until it implodes, creating a high temperature, high pressure plasma. Image credit: National Ignition Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Physicists Achieve Key Milestone in Nuclear Fusion Energy

Dec 13, 2022 by News Staff

Physicists with the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting...

Campbell et al. show that the diameter and radius of curvature of a circular light sail should be comparable in magnitude, both on the order of a few meters, in optimal designs for gram-scale payloads. Image credit: Campbell et al., doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03272.

Laser-Driven Light Sails Will Need to Billow Like Parachute: Study

Feb 17, 2022 by News Staff

As part of the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, University of Pennsylvania researcher Igor Bargatin and his colleagues are designing the size, shape and...

Our ability to explore the cosmos by direct contact has been limited to a small number of lunar and interplanetary missions. However, NASA’s Starlight program points a path forward to send small, relativistic spacecraft far outside our Solar System via standoff directed-energy propulsion. These miniaturized spacecraft are capable of robotic exploration but can also transport seeds and organisms, marking a profound change in our ability to both characterize and expand the reach of known life. Lantin et al. explore the biological and technological challenges of interstellar space biology, focusing on radiation-tolerant microorganisms capable of cryptobiosis. Image credit: University of California, Santa Barbara.

We Must Consider Benefits of Sending Life Outside of Solar System, Researchers Say

Jan 8, 2022 by News Staff

University of California, Santa Barbara’s professors Philip Lubin and Joel Rothman and their colleagues contemplate launching small cryptobiotic lifeforms...

Yang et al. made the first direct observation of atomic motion in liquid water molecules that have been excited with laser light. Image credit: Greg Stewart / SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Physicists Directly Observe Atomic Motion in Liquid Water Molecules

Aug 25, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of experimental physicists from the United States and Sweden has made the first direct observation of how hydrogen atoms in water...

An artist’s impression of the ultra-short-period sub-Neptune exoplanet TOI-1634b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Helium Rain is Possible inside Jovian Planets, New Experiments Suggest

May 27, 2021 by News Staff

Jupiter, Saturn and numerous giant exoplanets discovered to date consist mostly of hydrogen and helium. In 1977, planetary scientists predicted the existence...

Trapped antihydrogen atoms being cooled. Image credit: Chukman So.

CERN Physicists Cool Antimatter Using Laser Light for First Time

Apr 5, 2021 by News Staff

Physicists from the ALPHA (Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus) Collaboration at CERN have successfully demonstrated laser cooling of antihydrogen, the...

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