Light does more than illuminate the world—it can also push and twist matter. It was back in the 1870s that James Clerk ...

Scientists have engineered a type of artificial optical material -- a metamaterial -- with a particular three-dimensional structure such that light exhibits a negative index of refraction upon ...

Polarized light waves spin clockwise or counterclockwise as they travel, with one direction behaving differently than the other as it interacts with molecules. This directionality, called chirality or ...

Researchers have identified key structures in photosensitive plant tissue that allow them to determine the direction of light, leading to positive phototropism. A recent research collaboration between ...

With two light barriers closely positioned one after the other it is possible to establish in which direction they have been crossed. If, for example, you place it at the entrance of the toilet then ...

Researchers fabricated an optical element that uses a forest of tiny, antenna-like nanorods, seen here, that together create a metamaterial able to control the spin of light. The metamaterial nanorods ...