IMAKS Lab

• Two-color lasers aim electron currents through semiconductor with no electric field
  Researchers at the University of Michigan have created a device that enables them to control the flow of electrons through a semiconductor using only laser light—no electrical power source required. The device was built to explore fundamental physics and realize a previously unobserved behavior, but it could also open doors for new applications in areas […]
• Frozen fiber couples light and sound 1,000 times more strongly than standard glass fibers
  Researchers have developed a new type of optical fiber by freezing a glass capillary filled with liquid. It guides light and sound waves simultaneously and enables highly efficient coupling between them. The high coupling strength lowers the energy consumption of photonic neuromorphic computing schemes and quantum signal processing applications by several orders of magnitude.

• A strange quantum effect dramatically boosts energy transfer
• New programmable photonic chip can control how fast light moves
• New quantum gravity theory links entropy, dark energy, and life
• Scientists found two powerful new ways to destroy forever chemicals
• A tiny universe in a bottle reveals clues to the origins of life

• New programmable photonic chip can control how fast light moves
  July 21, 2026
  Scientists have created a programmable optical chip that can slow light on demand, giving engineers far greater control over how optical signals propagate through a circuit. The technology could provide the delays, synchronization, and buffering functions needed to make light-based computing more practical. A single chip could eventually perform several tasks that currently require separate […]

Remember this annoying color change when you look at your screen at different angles? Professor So group at NCSU Materials Science and Engineering department offers a solution. The article is published in The Journal of the Society for Information Display (https://doi.org/10.1002/jsid.792)

The power has been restored. All IMAKS instruments are up and running. Good luck with your experiments.

All power will be down on NCSU Centennial campus starting at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 2 . The crews will connect power lines to newly constructed buildings. As a result, all instruments have to be powered down and unplugged from wall outlets.

The facilities were planning to do work on secondary power lines (emergency lights, signs, and such). Accidentally, this morning they switched off the HVAC system and lab hoods. As a result, the lab got hot beyond the operating range of ultrafast lasers. facilities have been contacted. The temperature is getting to normal now. We anticipate we can start running experiments around 11 a.m.

to Chris Papa, Anh Thy Bui, and Phil Castellano on their article published in Nature Communications (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10260-7)