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Articles on Photonics

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Section of a tumor observed with an optical microscope. The two white forms with brown borders are blood vessels. Inside, gold nanoparticles accumulate against their walls. Mariana Varna-Pannerec (ESPCI)

Destroying tumors with gold nanoparticles

Gold can be used to make jewelry, but also to fight cancer. Several clinical trials are currently underway in the United States where patients are being treated with gold nanoparticles.
A basic design of a light-based chip. Arnab Hazari

The future of electronics is light

As electronic transistors get tinier, they approach a point at which they won’t be able to get smaller. How can we keep shrinking our devices, and making them more powerful at the same time? Light.
Green lasers glowing within cells. Matjaž Humar and Seok Hyun Yun

We transformed living cells into tiny lasers

Using fluorescent dye, researchers figured out how to turn cells into lasers – with applications for cell tagging and tracking as well as medical diagnoses and therapies.
Now you see him … Eric Tastad/Flickr

Invisibility cloaks closer thanks to ‘digital metamaterials’

The concept of “digital metamaterials” – a simple way of designing metamaterials with bizarre optical properties that could hasten the development of devices such as invisibility cloaks and superlenses…
Nanostructures on wings of Green Hairstreak butterflies inspired the design of polarised light beamsplitters. nutmeg66

The butterfly effect: optical nanotechnology takes flight

When scientists look for keys to unlock problems such as quantum teleportation or faster internet speeds, answers can sometimes be found in the natural world. Controlling light at the nanoscale is necessary…

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