Researchers from Shandong Normal University and the Australian National University have developed a new class of metasurfaces that integrate coupled-resonator optical waveguide physics into planar structures. The design produces photonic flatbands with ultrahigh quality factors and enables chiral responses to circularly polarized light, overcoming long-standing challenges in metasurface engineering. Verified through both simulations and experiments, the approach demonstrates multifunctional high-Q metasurfaces that can uniformly trap and control light across wide angles. The findings open pathways for applications in quantum optics, sensing, communications, and flat-optics devices.

Researchers have developed an optical "knob" using Poincaré sphere engineering to continuously tune topological states in ferroelectric materials. Unlike prior methods relying on abrupt electrical or mechanical changes, this approach manipulates structured light’s orbital angular momentum to smoothly create and control skyrmions, antiskyrmions, and hybrids on ultrafast timescales, promising new routes for dynamic, precise topological control in nanoscale memory and photonic devices.

MIT chemists designed a fluorescent molecule they hope could be used for applications such as generating clearer images of tumors. The dye is based on a borenium ion — a positively charged form of boron that can emit light in the near-infrared.

To increase energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of hydrogen fuel production, Fanglin Che, associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, is leveraging the power and potential of machine learning and computational modeling. The multi-university team she leads has completed a research study that was just published in Nature Chemical Engineering.

Scientists report the first direct real-time measurement and control of quantum uncertainty dynamics using ultrafast squeezed light pulses. This attosecond-resolved breakthrough not only advances fundamental quantum physics but also demonstrates petahertz-scale secure communication protocols, paving the way for next-generation quantum technologies in secure communication, quantum computing, and ultrafast spectroscopy.

A hundred years before the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration released the first image of a black hole in 2019 – located at the heart of the galaxy M87 – astronomer Heber Curtis had already discovered a strange jet protruding from the galaxy’s center. Today, we know this to be the jet of the black hole M87*. Such jets are also emitted by other black holes. Theoretical astrophysicists at Goethe University have now developed a numerical code to describe with high mathematical precision how black holes transform their rotational energy into such ultra-fast jets.

A new metal–organic framework (MOF), APF-80, enables the crystalline sponge method to capture and analyze nucleophilic compounds. Alkaloids, a diverse group of biologically active compounds, usually damage MOF crystals and resist study. By incorporating multiple structural motifs, these guests are encapsulated inside APF-80, which allows high-quality crystallographic data collection. This development opens new possibilities for structural analysis, advancing drug development and biochemistry.