Chiral nematic liquid crystals—otherwise referred to as cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs)—are self-organized helical superstructures that find practical application in, for example, thermography, reflective displays, tuneable colour filters and mirrorless lasing. Dynamic, remote and three-dimensional control over the helical axis of CLCs is desirable, but challenging. For example, the orientation of the helical axis relative to the substrate can be changed from perpendicular to parallel...
Tag Archives: Light
Three-dimensional control of the helical axis of a chiral nematic liquid crystal by light
Chiral nematic liquid crystals—otherwise referred to as cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs)—are self-organized helical superstructures that find practical application in, for example, thermography, reflective displays, tuneable colour filters and mirrorless lasing. Dynamic, remote and three-dimensional control over the helical axis of CLCs is desirable, but challenging. For example, the orientation of the helical axis relative to the substrate can be changed from perpendicular to parallel...
GeekWire Deals: Spice up your boring toilet with a little light from “IllumiBowl”
I would argue that the bathroom is the most boring room in the house. The living room has TV and video games, the kitchen is full of good eats, and the bedroom, well…
But your bathroom doesn’t have to be a drab room...
Optical physics: Ultrashort light pulses shake atoms
The response of electrons in atoms to ultrashort optical light pulses has been probed by measuring the ultraviolet light emitted by the atoms. This reveals that a finite time delay occurs before the response. See Letter p.66
Nature 530 41 doi: 10.1038/530041a
New study sheds light on what happens to women who are denied abortions
Women who are denied abortions set fewer positive goals for their futures.
In the US, there are many laws limiting when and how women can receive abortions. But there is almost no research on what happens to women who seek out abortions and are denied them. Now a team of health researchers at the University of California, San...
Video Review: Philips Hue Go portable, color-changing light
MORE FROM GEAR LIVE iPad Pro Review The Technics 1200 Turntable Returns! Xbox One Elite Wireless Controller Review The Philips Hue Go personal wireless light might be the coolest lighting accessory I’ve ever used. As you can see in the video, it looks like a...
The Town of Light: A psychological thriller with a mental health message
Despite how common mental health problems can be, understanding them, or even just discussing them without prejudice, is something of a modern invention. Unsurprisingly then, as a relatively young medium, video games haven't had the best track record when it comes to dealing with such complex issues. Games like Far Cry 3 and Call of Duty: Modern...
These $450 shoes will warm your feet, track your steps, light your path, tie themselves, and make you look like a complete dork
LAS VEGAS — Think of the Digitsole intelligent shoe as the Swiss Army Knife of connected footwear, complete with built in foot-warmers, step-tracking technology, a front light, shock detection, and more. With a design that could be described as Michael Jordan meets Marty McFly, we aren’t expecting...
Single-chip microprocessor that communicates directly using light
Data transport across short electrical wires is limited by both bandwidth and power density, which creates a performance bottleneck for semiconductor microchips in modern computer systems—from mobile phones to large-scale data centres. These limitations can be overcome by using optical communications based on chip-scale electronic–photonic systems enabled by silicon-based nanophotonic devices8. However, combining electronics and photonics on the same chip has proved challenging, owing...
Progress! New CMOS chip can process both light and electricity
(credit: Glenn Asakawa, University of Colorado)
Moving data around inside a computer means shoving it through wires, which have inherent bandwidth limitations and produce a lot of heat. Once that data hits a network, however, it often runs across optical hardware, which can send information long distances at high bandwidth without needing a dedicated nuclear reactor for...
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