Wed, 09 Jan 2008 Researchers have achieved optical waveguiding of near-infrared light through features embedded in self-assembled, three-dimensional photonic crystals. Applications for the optically active crystals include low-loss waveguides, low-threshold lasers and on-chip optical circuitry.more

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 Newly developed high-output LED modules are based on perfect synergy between solid-state physics and optics. To use the light emitted by the LED chip as fully as possible, a special optic for the respective application was fabricated. It consists of two parts: a primary and a secondary lens. The primary lens collects the light emitted by the LED close to the chip and combines it to form a beam. The secondary lens homogenizes the light beam. more

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 Hydrogen is the fuel of the future. Unfortunately, one problem remains: Hydrogen is a gas and cannot easily be pumped into a tank like gasoline. Storage in the form of solid hydrides, chemical compounds of hydrogen and a metal or semi-metal, are good storage materials in principle, but have not been well suited to automotive applications. Researches have now developed a hydride that could be a useful starting point for the development of future automotive hydrogen-storage materials. more

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 The world's most powerful medical magnetic resonance imaging machine, the 9.4 Tesla at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has successfully completed safety trials and may soon offer physicians a real-time view of biological processes in the human brain.more

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 A unique electron microscope that can help create four-dimensional "movies" of molecules may hold the answers to research questions in a number of fields including chemistry, biology, and physics. more

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 Animals and insects communicate through an invisible world of scents. By exploiting infrared technology, researchers at Rockefeller University just made that world visible. With the ability to see smells, these scientists now show that when fly larvae detect smells with both olfactory organs they find their way toward a scented target more accurately than when they detect them with one. more

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 The dashing start of electrons in a crystal does not remain without consequences for their further fate. Researchers examined the ultrafast movement of electrons in a gallium arsenide crystal exposed for a short time to a very high electrical field. This conceptually new experiment shows for the first time a collective, oscillatory motion of the electrons with ultrahigh frequency, which arises additionally to the well-known drift motion of these particles. This newly discovered effect could play an important role in connection with the miniaturization of electronic devices. more

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 Using genetic engineering techniques, researchers have proven a long-standing theory of how many plants ship sugars from their leaves to flowers, roots, fruits and other parts of their structure. more

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 Scientists have identified a molecule that may govern how the circadian clock in plants responds to environmental changes. The researchers have discovered that a signaling molecule, known to be important for environmental stress signaling in plants, also regulates their circadian clock. They believe that the molecule may therefore incorporate information about environmental changes into the biological clock that regulates the physiology of plants. The research dramatically changes our current understanding of the circadian clock and may have important implications for the agricultural community. more

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 As a step towards designing tomorrow's super-fast optical communications networks, scientists have demonstrated a way to transfer encoded information from a laser beam to sound waves and then back to light waves again. more