Today, astronomers seek to observe the faintest and most distant objects possible. Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), with apertures in the order of several dozen meters, are the next generation ...

Scientists from the UK and China have developed a lateral-graded multilayer grating that addresses a key challenge in tender X-ray RIXS technique. Demonstrated at the I21 beamline in Diamond Light ...

Diffraction gratings are curious things. Score a series of equally spaced tiny lines in a surface, and it will cause reflected or transmitted light to bend and separate into its component wavelengths.

Visual demonstration of the performance of the diffraction grating. The zeroth order transmission refers to light that goes straight through the grating without undergoing diffraction (which should be ...

Researchers have developed a process to turn crab shells into a bioplastic that can be used to make optical components known as diffraction gratings. The resulting lightweight, inexpensive gratings ...

Using a novel method, beams of laser light can be deflected using air alone. An invisible grating made only of air is not only immune to damage from the laser light, but it also preserves the original ...

Here’s a great picture from [Jelly & Marshmallows] that shows off the wild effects of melted chocolate poured onto a diffraction grating. A diffraction grating is a kind of optical component whose ...

Mimicking nature A material designed to mimic a quirky iridescent patch on a butterfly's wing may help prevent counterfeiting, say US engineers. The 'photonic' material, so called because it affects ...