A Quantum Turnstile Chip for Photons
A turnstile lets you through only forward, and not a step back. Physicists have implemented a similar principle on a tiny semiconductor chip for single photons — particles of light.
Scintillator in a new package: light becomes four times brighter
A crystal the size of a matchbox was placed under the beam of a clinical accelerator. Half of its surface was covered with a pattern of nanoscale bumps — tiny, smaller than the wavelength of light. The other half was left smooth. The difference was striking: the coated part produced a signal 4.1 times brighter.