One of the many fascinating effects of cross-polarization is called “birefringence”, which is responsible for the psychedelic gradients in the seen here. This article is part two of a two-part series ...

The fine and efficient control of the properties of light at ultrafast speed down to the picosecond timescale is a challenging task, crucial for many scientific applications and technologies. For ...

A team of researchers led by Assistant Professor Yuki Arakawa, Toyohashi University of Technology, has successfully liquid crystallized π-conjugated rod-like molecules with alkylthio groups containing ...

The misconception that "if it is transparent and smooth, light passes through straight"1.1 Transparent, scratch-free lenses ...

Owing to their ease of processing, low weight, high transparency and low cost, optical polymers are widely used as key materials for various optical devices, such as lenses, optical disks and optical ...

Researchers find gravitational lensing has significant effect on cosmic birefringence. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 14, 2026 from www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2023 / 11 / 231102135148.htm ...

Multiple independent analyses of the oldest light in the universe now point to a subtle but persistent twist in its polarization, a signal that, if confirmed, cannot be explained by the Standard Model ...

Until recently, techniques for measuring birefringence have hardly altered with observations being made using standard polarising microscopes with white light and crossed polars, which can lead to ...

This diagram represents the the light of a neutron star passing through an area of space where vacuum birefringence, a theory of quantum electrodynamics, is occurring. The light\'s magnetic and ...

With this method, doctors around the world can easily, rapidly and reliably detect malaria, Ebola or HIV to name only a few. Nothing could be simpler: a drop of blood is placed on a special carrier ...