Light consists of electromagnetic waves that oscillate in time and propagate in space. Scalar waves are described by their intensity and phase distributions. These are the spatial (orbital) degrees of ...

Physicists use a 350-year-old theorem that explains the workings of pendulums and planets to reveal new properties of light waves. Since the 17th century, when Isaac Newton and Christiaan Huygens ...

Researchers have used a 350-year-old theorem to better understand the strange nature of light. The team took a theorem used for describing pendulums and substituted the brightness of light in for what ...

Scientists have used a new method to determine the characteristics of optical, i.e. light-based, quantum states. For the first time, they are using certain photon detectors -- devices that can detect ...

Light corn syrup is used to rotate the plane of polarized light on the stage of an overhead projector. A polarizing filter allows only those photons with electric fields oscillating in a single plane ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about physics, science, academia, and pop culture. There's an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in which John de ...

Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces from Imperial College London.View full profile Alfredo has a PhD in Astrophysics and a Master's in Quantum ...

Slowing down light is not as easy as it sounds. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The phenomenon of light slowing down as it passes ...

Light is well known to exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties, as imaged here in this 2015 photograph. What's less well appreciated is that matter particles also exhibit those wave-like ...

A career in optical physics or engineering means knowing about the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and its detection by instruments. Since the discovery that ...

a. Schematic of a CBR sample on six-legged piezoelectric substrate mounted on a chip carrier. Dimensions are not to scale. b. Optical microscopy image of a finished sample. A tilted scanning electron ...