The quantum behavior of atomic vibrations excited in a crystal using light pulses has much to do with the polarization of the pulses, say materials scientists. The findings from their latest study ...

Researchers at Kumamoto University have discovered that a purely inorganic crystal grown from water solution can emit circularly polarized light, a special form of light whose "handedness" ...

A team has produced a family of dendrimers that form single-crystals and can harvest non-polarized light and transform it into polarized emission. The dendrimer crystals are both optically and ...

Optical microscope image of a representative crystal that possesses centrosymmetry, yet shows differential absorption of circularly polarized light. The crystal is made of lithium, cobalt, selenium ...

In a surprising twist, researchers have identified crystals that are symmetrical but nevertheless absorb light as if they were chiral (Science 2025, DOI: 10.1126/science.adr5478). The discovery ...

Single crystals of potassium europium nitrate, K₃[Eu₂(NO₃)₉], grown from water by slow evaporation (a). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals left- and right-handed chiral crystal structures (c, d) ...

To the naked eye, solids may appear perfectly still, but in reality, their constituent atoms and molecules are anything but. They rotate and vibrate, respectively defining the so-called "rotational" ...