For the first time, Yale University physicists have directly observed quantum behavior in the vibrations of a liquid body. A great deal of ongoing research is currently devoted to discovering and exploiting quantum effects in the motion of macroscopic objects made of solids and gases. This new experiment opens a potentially rich area of further…
New Laser Beam Shape Can ‘Sneak’ through Opaque Media
Researchers have found a way to pre-treat a laser beam so that it enters opaque surfaces without dispersing—like a headlight that’s able to cut through heavy fog at full strength. The discovery from scientists at Yale University and the Missouri University of Science & Technology has potential applications for deep-tissue imaging and optogenetics, in which…
Lasers and Chill
Yale University scientists have discovered that laser light can be used to cool traveling sound waves in a silicon chip. Their findings appear in the Nov. 27 online edition of the journal Physical Review X. In the last several decades, the ability to cool clouds of atoms using laser light has revolutionized atomic physics, leading…
Universities Receive $1.6M Grant for Particle Detector Assemblies
Yale is one of four U.S. universities chosen to design and plan the production of 150 particle detector assemblies for a major international physics experiment. A $1.6 million planning grant from the National Science Foundation will be divided among Yale University, the University of Chicago, Syracuse University, and the University of Wisconsin. The four institutions…
To Cure Chaotic Lasers, Add More Chaos
An international, Yale-led research team has taken a new approach to stabilizing high-power lasers: They’re fighting chaos with chaos. There has been a rapidly growing demand for high-power lasers for applications such as materials processing, large-scale displays, laser surgery, and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) remote sensing systems. A long-standing challenge for powerful lasers is…
Researchers Discover Patterns in “Electron Puddles”
Yale University physicist Leonid Glazman has developed a quantitative theory to explain the effect of quantum and thermal fluctuations of charge in tiny “electron puddles” for a study reported in the journal Nature. Scientists at the Nanoscience Center in Paris have created an “electron puddle” within a semiconductor in order to study the particle-wave duality…
Sound on a Silicon Chip Can Amplify Light
Yale scientists have found a way to greatly boost the intensity of light waves on a silicon microchip using the power of sound. Writing in the journal Nature Photonics, a team led by Peter Rakich describes a new waveguide system that harnesses the ability to precisely control the interaction of light and sound waves. This…