Tag: light
Retrocausality: How backwards-in-time effects could explain quantum weirdness
Since the earliest days of quantum theory, physicists have struggled to reconcile the apparently nonlocal, faster-than-light interactions demanded by quantum mechanics with the strict laws of relativity. Dr Rod Sutherland at the University of Sydney, Australia, believes that the answer to this problem lies with ‘retrocausality’ – a concept which would allow quantum measurements to influence events in their past. […]
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Mysteries of Earth’s ocean floor
The sky and the sea have inspired artists and writers for centuries and both hold secrets that have captivated humanity for millennia. In 2022, images from the James Webb Space Telescope revealed some of the mysteries of the visible universe, bringing objects up to 13.6 billion light-years away to the forefront of popular science. But just as many secrets remain […]
Unravelling the Mysteries of Deep-Blue Luminescence
Some molecules glow as brilliantly as fireflies through a process known as luminescence. Different molecules can emit different colours of light, including red, green, and blue. However, not all colours are as easy to generate as others. Dr Masahito Oh-e at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, together with his collaborator Dr Akira Nagasawa, Professor Emeritus of Saitama University in Japan, […]
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Weighing weightless photons for laser-based manufacturing
It may be hard to believe that a beam of light can melt steel, but that is exactly what happens during laser beam machining. Using lasers for processing has become increasingly common but knowing exactly how much energy and heating occurs during these processes is a challenging task. This is why colleagues Dr John Lehman and Dr Paul Williams at […]
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A trick of the light: Discovering Dark-Bright and Anti-Dark-Bright Solitons
Light has many incredible properties. They range from its strange duality of behaviour, acting either as a wave or a particle, to demonstrating incredible nonlinear effects that can be exploited with laser and optical technologies. One such property is the ability of light waves to form solitons when they pass through materials like optical fibres. Solitons, or solitary waves, occur […]
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Shining a light on photochemical dynamics
When a molecule absorbs light, this can trigger a whole host of reactions. This includes the formation of new bonds or even rearranging the order of the atoms within the same molecule to create new chemical species. These light-induced changes, known as photochemical dynamics, can be challenging to study as they can occur on timescales of femtoseconds, so fast that […]