Using the photoacoustic effect, researchers demonstrated that a laser could transmit an audible message to a person without using any receiver equipment. The ability to send highly targeted audio signals over the air could be helpful to communicate across noisy rooms or to alert people to a potentially dangerous situation, such as an active shooter. [..]

For the first time, researchers used electric fields and ultraviolet light to perform computational logic operations on a liquid-crystal-based chemical device. The device (and methods used) open up new research opportunities, such as low-power, high-performance computer chips. The team created a device that demonstrates computation-related functions. Conventional computers use an electric charge to represent binary [..]

PySight is a new multiphoton microscopy tool developed by researchers for rapid 2D and 3D imaging of the brain and other tissues. The team hopes that the tool will soon help scientists gain a better understanding of brain dynamics, assisting in the discovery of groundbreaking treatments for various health problems such as stroke, epilepsy, and [..]

For the first time, researchers demonstrated that nerves engineered to express proteins activated by light could generate limb movements that can be adjusted in real-time using cues generated by the limb’s motion. The optogenetic technique produces smoother and less tiring movement than similar electrical systems that stimulate nerves in spinal cord injury patients and others. [..]

Researchers created a new low-energy nanoscale laser, known as nanolasers, that can transmit in all directions. Introducing irregularities into the lasing materials – a structure that laser makers usually work hard to avoid – is the key to this omnidirectional light emission. The team anticipates “a wide range of potential applications.” The researchers looked into [..]

Scientists have demonstrated a new method for fabricating compact, low-loss optical waveguides in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) slab. A femtosecond writing laser initiates two-photon absorption in light-reactive monomers embedded in PDMS. Without potentially toxic photoinitiator compounds, two-photon absorption generates enough energy in the monomer molecules to initiate a chain polymerization reaction. The resulting polymerized waveguides have [..]

A group of scientists has greatly devised a method to simplify and improve optical tweezer use. In the late 1980s, the optical tweezer discovery was made. They are light beam fingers that can grasp particles, atoms, molecules, and even bacteria and other living cells. The method uses an optical laser that can hold onto a [..]