Topic description and stories

Flashes bright when squeezed tight: how single-celled organisms light up the oceans

06 Jul 2020

Research explains how a unicellular marine organism generates light as a response to mechanical stimulation, lighting up breaking waves at night.

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Petals produce a 'blue halo' that helps bees find flowers

18 Oct 2017

New study finds “messy” microscopic structures on petals of some flowers manipulate light to produce a blue colour effect that is easily seen by bee...

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Artist's impression

World’s 'smallest magnifying glass' makes it possible to see individual chemical bonds between atoms

10 Nov 2016

Using the strange properties of tiny particles of gold, researchers have concentrated light down smaller than a single atom, letting them look at...

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An image from an experiment in the quantum optics laboratory in Cambridge. Laser light was used to excite individual tiny, artificially constructed atoms known as quantum dots, to create “squeezed” single photons

Scientists "squeeze" light one particle at a time

01 Sep 2015

A team of scientists have measured a bizarre effect in quantum physics, in which individual particles of light are said to have been “squeezed” – an...

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Trapping the light fantastic

16 Jun 2014

The development of a ‘nanobarrel’ that traps and concentrates light onto single molecules could be used as a low-cost and reliable diagnostic test.

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Hologram

Nanotubes used to create smallest ever hologram pixels

21 Sep 2012

A breakthrough in the use of carbon nanotubes as optical projectors has enabled scientists to generate holograms using the smallest ever pixels.

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The galaxy NGC 4151. Researchers were able to use this galaxy to accumulate data about flares coming from a mysterious X-ray source close to the giant black hole at its centre.

“Echo” of light augurs new era in study of black holes

31 May 2012

A long-sought “echo” of light that promises to reveal more about supersized black holes in distant galaxies has been identified by an international...

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Bees are important pollinators of daisies and many other flowers

Flower power: how to get ahead in advertising

02 Feb 2012

Some plants go to extraordinary lengths to attract pollinators. A unique collaboration between plant scientists and physicists is revealing the full...

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Mentzelia lindleyi

How flowers use a touch of bling to woo the bees

04 Jul 2011

Beetles use it, birds use it. Plants use it too. Iridescence is the shimmery colour effect that makes things eye-catching.

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Sir Richard Friend and David Harding

Physics of sustainability programme launched

24 Mar 2011

Funded by a £20 million donation from David Harding, the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability aims to address some of the major...

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library light

Libraries and light

01 May 2010

Research in the Department of Architecture aims to reveal the creative potential of light in the design of contemporary libraries.

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Sensing molecules by light using a substrate of nanoscale gold vocals

Squeezing more from light: coupling nanoscience and photonics

01 Sep 2008

Cambridge’s new NanoPhotonics Centre is creating novel properties of light and matter at the nanoscale.

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