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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Optics
Nobel Prize roundup: It’s all about the optics!
This week, the Nobel Prizes for Physics and Chemistry were announced, and it was a photonics two-fer! The physics prize went to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura “for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Science news
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Physics demonstrations: The Phantom Lightbulb
Some of the most spectacular physics demonstrations rely on surprisingly simple science. Throughout history, for instance, very simple optics has been used to great effect to terrify and amaze audiences (see, for instance, Robertson’s Phantasmagoria). I recently came across such … Continue reading
Posted in Optics, Physics demos
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“How the Ray Gun Got Its Zap,” by Stephen Wilk (Updated)
There are a lots of popular science books out there, but a relatively small fraction of those books are related to physics. And of those popsci books related to physics, there are only a small fraction that discuss optics.* And … Continue reading
Posted in Optics
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Communication via vortices?
This is the second in a series of posts about the upcoming OSA Frontiers in Optics meeting in Orlando. This post covers research related to the presentation FM3F.1: Alan E. Willner, Multiplexing Information-Carrying Orthogonal Beams using Orbital Angular Momentum States. To be (hopefully) cross-posted … Continue reading
Posted in Optics
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1842: Jean-Daniel Colladon guides light with water
Big technological advances often start with very humble beginnings. If you’re reading this post on the internet right now, it is almost certain that the information has come to you at some point in the journey in the form of … Continue reading
Posted in History of science, Optics, Physics demos
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Supersymmetry in optics?
This is the first in a series of posts about the upcoming OSA Frontiers in Optics meeting in Orlando. This post covers research related to the presentation FM4C.5: Mohammad-Ali Miri; Matthias Heinrich; Demetrios N. Christodoulides, SUSY-generated complex optical potentials with real-valued spectra. … Continue reading
Posted in Optics
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Simple fun with polarizers!
There is a lot of interesting optics going on around us every day that we are often unaware of! Some of these can be investigated with very simple and inexpensive tools, if one knows what to look for. For instance: … Continue reading
Posted in Optics
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Hiding from time? New design of a “temporal cloak” makes waves
Is it possible to make something invisible in time as well as in space? It is a fascinating question, a provocative question, a mind-boggling question… wait… what exactly does it mean to “make something invisible in time?” We’ll get to … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics
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All about rainbows, double rainbows, circular rainbows!
Do not all charms fly At the mere touch of cold philosophy? There was an awful rainbow once in heaven: We know her woof, her texture; she is given In the dull catalogue of common things. Philosophy will clip an … Continue reading
Posted in Optics
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Physics demonstrations: cloaking device?
I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog talking about the optics of invisibility, both hypothetical and actual. Though a number of forms of invisibility have been considered in both science and fiction for over a hundred years, the … Continue reading
Posted in Invisibility, Optics, Physics demos
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