Researchers have developed a 3D gap-plasmon antenna which can focus light into a few nanometers wide space.

Researchers have developed innovative flat, optical lenses that are capable of manipulating light in ways that are difficult or impossible to achieve with conventional optical devices. The new lenses are not made of glass. Instead, silicon nanopillars are precisely arranged into a honeycomb pattern to create a “metasurface” that can control the paths and properties of passing light waves.

The medium is the message. Scientists have now given new meaning to this maxim: An innovative method they have now demonstrated for getting nanoparticles to self-assemble focuses on the medium in which the particles are suspended; these assemblies can be used, among other things, for reversibly writing information.

Advances in manufacturing technology for ‘quantum dots’ may soon lead to a new generation of LED lighting that produces a more user-friendly white light, while using less toxic materials and low-cost manufacturing processes that take advantage of simple microwave heating. It could help the nation cut its lighting bill in half.

Researchers have developed a method that could improve medical imaging and cancer treatments and increase the efficiency of commercial solar cells by 25 to 30 percent.

For the first time, Harvard researchers have created wakes of light-like waves moving on a metallic surface, called surface plasmons, and demonstrated that they can be controlled and steered. The creation and control of surface plasmon wakes could lead to new types of plasmonic couplers and lenses that could create two-dimensional holograms or focus light at the nanoscale.