optics

Nature Communications, Published online: 22 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74532-9 A tip-enhanced nano-optical trapping spectroscopy enables deterministic trapping and dynamic control of single quantum emitters, including reversible switching between weak and strong light-matter coupling regimes.

By physically squeezing or stretching a grid of atoms, scientists can change how a material conducts electricity or stores magnetic information

Scientists have discovered an unusual property of chicken eggs that could eventually help solve one of the poultry industry’s biggest ethical problems. By shining light into intact eggs, researchers found that they may be able to reveal what is happening inside without cracking the shell open. The study, published in Newton, suggests that this technique […] The post Scientists discover a way to p…

This is a submission for the June Solstice Game Jam What I Built A grid-based laser decryption puzzle where you rotate mirrors to route colored light through portals, filters, and unstable "Solstice Drift" systems before the puzzle rearranges itself. Solstice Crypt is a real-time optical decryption puzzle where players rotate mirrors to route and combine colored light beams through unstable grid …

Nature Communications, Published online: 20 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74654-0 Probing nanoscale light-matter interactions requires simultaneous access to optical anisotropy and ultrahigh spatial resolution. Here, authors develop torsional force microscopy-infrared imaging, enabling near-nanometer optical imaging and direction-resolved mapping of local optical responses.

Scientific Reports, Published online: 20 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-58781-8 Design of a Fano-resonance-enhanced dielectric grating for ultralow-filling-factor superconducting nanowire single-photon detector

Nature Communications, Published online: 20 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74463-5 Researchers report a reconfigurable optical anti-counterfeiting tag whose microscopic fingerprint can be rewritten on demand by a droplet of volatile solvent, enabling renewable security without heat, light, or special equipment.

Nature Communications, Published online: 20 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74547-2 The authors present a material-selective hybrid metalens which produces high-efficiency performance in distinct spectral windows without geometric modification. The work establishes hybrid metsurfaces as a manufacturing-compatible alternative to bulk refractive optics.

Experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) require breathtaking precision.

Nature Nanotechnology, Published online: 16 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41565-026-02197-y Optical multistability comprising three optical states is shown in a compact photonic crystal cavity, enabled by the near-exceptional coupling of high-quality-factor modes.

Scientists have demonstrated a non-invasive technique that uses light to reveal the hidden contents of chicken eggs, potentially helping to curb the meat industry's practice of killing billions of male chicks at birth.

I have been thinking about a conceptual optics question involving a magnifying glass, and I am struggling to reconcile two seemingly different explanations. I have attached two photographs from an ...

Nature Communications, Published online: 19 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74238-y Most optoelectronic circuits remain constrained by conventional binary logic. Here, Lee et al. report a light-driven multi-state transistor that converts optical inputs into ternary logic states, enabling reconfigurable logic and in-sensor image processing within a single device architecture.

Nature Communications, Published online: 18 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74479-x High-entropy perovskite nanocrystals prepared via ion exchange show a prolonged spin relaxation lifetime due to Rashba effect, which enables the manipulation of optically accessible spin-polarized excited states at room temperature.

Just as self-driving cars navigate traffic without a human behind the wheel, laboratory instruments are now being developed that can design, carry out and repeat experiments independently, 24 hours a day. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg and other institutions have now developed an AI system capable of speeding up the operation of optical tweezers, […]

Nature Communications, Published online: 17 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74151-4 The authors demonstrate transfer-printed yellow and red InGaN micro-LEDs on diamond substrates. These devices achieve a 1.5 Gbps data rate with an energy efficiency of 0.056 pJ/bit, enabling low-power, high-speed optical interconnects.

Nature Communications, Published online: 17 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74302-7 Ergodicity (or lack thereof) plays a major role in the relaxation of quantum systems to equilibrium, yet the search of experimentally accessible quantities acting as its signatures is still ongoing. Here, the authors observe the sought-after features of the coherent forward scattering peak from a Bose-Einstein c…

AI runs at the speed of light. More and more, that light is made in Texas. Coherent broke ground today on an expanded manufacturing building in Sherman, Texas.  The company makes the lasers, optical components and compound semiconductors that wire AI systems together — and runs what it calls the world’s first 6-inch indium phosphide […]

Description NASA astronaut Jessica Meir inspects optical fibers while installing hardware updates to the agency’s Cold Atom Lab, or CAL, aboard the International Space Station on May 8, 2026. About the size of a minifridge and operated from Earth, CAL chills atoms to temperatures below minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), so close […] The post Astronaut Jessica Meir Assist…

Scientific Reports, Published online: 16 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-57951-y Interface-controlled broadband photodetection in Si 3 N 4 /n-Si hybrid devices