Laser

Innovation in Spectroscopy Could Improve Greenhouse Gas Detection
05/14/2013 - 17:08

Detecting greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could soon become far easier with the help of an innovative technique* developed by a team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where scientists have overcome an issue preventing the effective use of lasers to rapidly scan samples.

 

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Laser Light Zaps Away Cocaine Addiction
04/05/2013 - 10:58

By stimulating one part of the brain with laser light, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco (UCSF) have shown that they can wipe away addictive behavior in rats – or conversely turn non-addicted rats into compulsive cocaine seekers.

 

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Fighting sleeping sickness with X-ray lasers
12/21/2012 - 10:50

Using the world’s most powerful X-ray free-electron laser, an international team of researchers, including scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, has obtained new insight into the structure of a medicinally important protein that may serve as a blueprint for the development of drugs to fight sleeping sickness. Science magazine have chosen the experimental study as one of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of the year.

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Scotch tape finds new use as grasping 'smart material'
11/21/2012 - 11:42

Scotch tape, a versatile household staple and a mainstay of holiday gift-wrapping, may have a new scientific application as a shape-changing "smart material." Researchers used a laser to form slender half-centimeter-long fingers out of the tape. When exposed to water, the four wispy fingers morph into a tiny robotic claw that captures water droplets.

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Twisted photonic crystal fibres suppress specific optical wavelengths
08/06/2012 - 09:00

A simple longitudinal twist converts certain microstructured optical fibres into filters. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen have measured this effect in detail in photonic crystal fibres and found a theory to explain it. The results of their research will allow new applications in optical communications and the construction of lasers, sensors and light amplifiers.

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Modifying surfaces by means of nanostructured reliefs to prevent the spread of bacteria
07/20/2012 - 08:17

Researchers at the Institute for Agrobiotechnology (a mixed research centre set up by the Public University of Navarre, the CSIC-National Scientific Research Council, and the Government of Navarre) are designing, by means of laser application, nanostructured reliefs on surfaces so that they acquire antibacterial properties and are more resistant to the formation of bacterial biofilms.

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