Lithium Tantalate: Making a Material Difference
An emerging electro-optic material promises to deliver a cost-effective platform for manufacturing integrated photonic chips for next-generation applications.
01 April 2026
A New Knob for Resonant Photonics: The Waveform
Complex-frequency excitations provide access to a “hidden” structure for resonant scattering and coupling, with applications in photonics, metasurfaces, imaging and quantum.
01 April 2026
How USAF Funding Shaped Laser–Atmosphere Modeling
A transformative software for nonlinear laser–atmosphere interactions illustrates how long-term basic research investment drives scientific and technological impact.
01 April 2026
Startup Aims to Beam Laser Power to Satellites in Eclipse
Mantis Space raises US$10 million to develop a "space grid” designed to keep spacecraft running when Earth blocks the sun.
23 March 2026
Nanostructure Tunes the Handedness of Light
Device’s ability to vary the chirality of light could be exploited in sensing and communication.
18 March 2026
Unusual circular clouds in the vicinity of the sunrise create a beautiful early morning sky.
20 March 2026
April 2026 Issue
LATEST NEWS
Startup Aims to Beam Laser Power to Satellites in Eclipse
Mantis Space raises US$10 million to develop a "space grid” designed to keep spacecraft running when Earth blocks the sun.
23 March 2026
Nanostructure Tunes the Handedness of Light
Device’s ability to vary the chirality of light could be exploited in sensing and communication.
18 March 2026
Ayar Labs Raises US$500 Million
The company plans to use series E funds to accelerate deployment of its co-packaged optics solution for AI scale-up.
17 March 2026
Laser Pulses Deliver Ultrafast Logic
A future generation of faster digital devices could be controlled using extremely short light pulses.
16 March 2026
Nvidia Invests US$4 Billion in Photonic Technology
Lumentum and Coherent will each receive US$2 billion to support AI infrastructure development.
13 March 2026EDITOR'S PICKS
Seeing What’s Up Down Below
Understanding and tracking climate change demands a more comprehensive visual picture of global seafloor—via cameras, lighting and other optics designed for the ocean’s inhospitable depths.
01 January 2026
A look at the primary uses and potential sources for rare-earth metals, which are important to the production of numerous technologies.
01 June 2025
Staffing the Quantum Revolution
How should the emerging quantum technology industry educate and train its future workforce?
01 March 2023
A diffractive axicon under LED illumination produces a system of colorful rings that form nearly Bessel beams.
01 May 2023
Circular Clouds at Sunrise
Unusual circular clouds in the vicinity of the sunrise create a beautiful early morning sky.
20 March 2026
Fiber Becomes a Sensor
As low-loss optical fiber was developed for communications, researchers discovered that it could be leveraged for sensing.
01 March 2026
Ultraintense Lasers: Reaching for the Brightest Light
NSF OPAL is a next-generation NSF research infrastructure for studying ultrahigh-intensity laser–matter interactions.
01 March 2026CAREERS
Building the Optics-Professional Pipeline
Kipkemoi Elvis Samuel discusses his work in removing obstacles for students to get an optics education in Kenya.
28 October 2025
My Congressional Fellowship: A Career Door-Opener
Eager to work toward solving big societal problems like climate change, Claire Cody left the lab for the world of scientific policy.
21 October 2025
Journeys in Optics: Falko Schmidt
Falko Schmidt discusses his career trajectory, cofounding a startup and sustainability in the lab.
16 September 2025
Journeys in Optics: Winnie N. Ye
Winnie Ye talks about overcoming challenges she faced during her career and the importance of diversity, collaboration and mentorship in research.
26 August 2025
AI-Generated Podcasts for Science Communication
Researchers found that artificial intelligence could help disseminate scientific studies in a clear, easy-to-understand format.
30 June 2025