light

Topic description and stories

The Dinoflagellate Pyrocystis lunula, Credit: University of Cambridge

Flashes bright when squeezed tight: how single-celled organisms light up the oceans

06 Jul 2020

Research explains how a unicellular marine organism generates light as a response to mechanical stimulation, lighting up breaking waves at night.

Top: petals of Ursinia speciosa, a daisy, contain a dark pigment that appears blue due to 'disordered' striations. Bottom: close-up top and side view of microscopic striations. , Credit: Tobias Wenzel/ Edwige Moyroud

Petals produce a 'blue halo' that helps bees find flowers

18 Oct 2017

New study finds “messy” microscopic structures on petals of some flowers manipulate light to produce a blue colour effect that is easily seen by bee...

World’s 'smallest magnifying glass' makes it possible to see individual chemical bonds between atoms

10 Nov 2016

Using the strange properties of tiny particles of gold, researchers have concentrated light down smaller than a single atom, letting them look at...

An image from an experiment in the quantum optics laboratory in Cambridge. Laser light was used to excite individual tiny, artificially constructed atoms known as quantum dots, to create “squeezed” single photons

Scientists "squeeze" light one particle at a time

01 Sep 2015

A team of scientists have measured a bizarre effect in quantum physics, in which individual particles of light are said to have been “squeezed” – an...

Light can be manipulated at the nanoscale, as in this elastic material which has been folded like nano-origami, Credit: Gen Kamita and Jeremy Baumberg

Trapping the light fantastic

16 Jun 2014

The development of a ‘nanobarrel’ that traps and concentrates light onto single molecules could be used as a low-cost and reliable diagnostic test.

Nanotubes used to create smallest ever hologram pixels

21 Sep 2012

A breakthrough in the use of carbon nanotubes as optical projectors has enabled scientists to generate holograms using the smallest ever pixels.

The galaxy NGC 4151. Researchers were able to use this galaxy to accumulate data about flares coming from a mysterious X-ray source close to the giant black hole at its centre.

“Echo” of light augurs new era in study of black holes

31 May 2012

A long-sought “echo” of light that promises to reveal more about supersized black holes in distant galaxies has been identified by an international...

Physics of sustainability programme launched

24 Mar 2011

Funded by a £20 million donation from David Harding, the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability aims to address some of the major...

Libraries and light

01 May 2010

Research in the Department of Architecture aims to reveal the creative potential of light in the design of contemporary libraries.