Materials get their optical properties based on how much they reflect, absorb or transmit different wavelengths (colors) of light. Usually optical coatings either reflect or transmit a given color of ...

Neurons, the cells in brains and spinal cords that make up the central nervous system, communicate by firing electrical pulses. But scientists have found hints that neurons may transmit light as well, ...

Plant growth is heavily dependent on light, but it’s not just leaves and shoots that make use of the Sun’s rays, according to a new study in Science Signaling, and reported by New Scientist. Using a ...

A colorful display of plastic optical fibers Commercial optical fibers generally carry light that’s invisible to the eye. The colorful ones shown here transmit visible light, demonstrating how fiber ...

Despite the modern world relying heavily on digital optical communication, there has not been a significant improvement in the minimum attenuation—a measure of the loss of optical power per kilometer ...

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have unveiled a new optical technology that enables precise focusing of light—only in one direction. This novel unidirectional focusing ...

A recent review published in the journal Buildings has spotlighted optical fiber light-transmitting concrete (LTC), a ...

Researchers have developed a low-cost visible light communication (VLC) system using commercially available hardware that ...

Short pulses from a laser can be twisted into a series of doughnut-like vortices, offering a way to transmit more information using light. We usually encounter vortices in water and air, but similar ...

The speed record for data transmission using a single light source and optical chip has been shattered. Engineers have transmitted data at a blistering rate of 1.84 petabits per second (Pbit/s), ...

Visible Light Communications (VLC), or Li-Fi, is a new optical wireless communications technology that promises spectacular amounts of new bandwidth for data transmissions. It uses visible light ...