17-Apr-2019

Detecting terahertz (THz) light is extremely useful for two main reasons: Firstly, THz technology is becoming a key element in applications regarding security (such as airport scanners), wireless data communication, and quality control, to mention just a few. However, current THz detectors have ...

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06-Nov-2018

Phase transitions are common occurrences that dramatically change the properties of a material, the most familiar being the solid-liquid-gas transition in water. Each phase corresponds to a new arrangement of the atoms within the material, which dictate the properties of the substance. While ...

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14-May-2018

Light detection and control lies at the heart of many modern device applications, such as the camera you have in your phone. Using graphene as a light-sensitive material for light detectors can offer significant improvements with respect to materials being used nowadays. For example, graphene can ...

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18-Dec-2017

Liquids and gases are two different phases of matter that are part of our everyday life. While gases are dilute, compressible and take the size of their container, liquids are dense, have a fixed volume and in small quantities form droplets. These are ensembles of particles that remain bound by ...

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29-Jun-2017

Modulating the amplitude and phase of light is a key ingredient for many of applications such as wavefront shaping, transformation optics, phased arrays, modulators and sensors. Performing this task with high efficiency and small footprint is a major challenge for the development of ...

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Seeing electrons surfing the waves of light on graphene

09-Jun-2017

Researchers have studied how light can be used to “see” the quantum nature of an electronic material. They managed to do that by capturing light in a net of carbon atoms and slowing down light it down so that it moves almost as slow as the electrons in the graphene. Then something special ...

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31-May-2017

Over the past 40 years, microelectronics have advanced by leaps and bounds thanks to silicon and CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide semiconductors) technology, making possible computing, smartphones, compact and low-cost digital cameras, as well as most of the electronic gadgets we rely on ...

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Proton is seen escaping the molecule

24-Oct-2016

Imagine what it would be like to watch how the individual atoms of molecules rearrange during a chemical reaction to form a new substance, or to see the compounds of DNA move, rearrange and replicate. Such capability would give unprecedented insight to understand and potentially control the ...

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31-May-2016

One of the most striking discoveries of quantum information theory is the existence of problems that can be solved in a more efficient way with quantum resources than with any known classical algorithm. Number-partitioning, which refers to the simple task of dividing a set of numbers into two ...

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Experiments tests Einstein's theorem using quantum 'dice'

23-Oct-2015

Random number generators developed at ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences, by the groups of ICREA Professors Morgan W. Mitchell and Valerio Pruneri, played a critical role in the historic experiment by the group of Ronald Hanson at TU Delft. The experiment gives the strongest refutation to ...

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