News

Six image panels showing various applications of fully sintered fused glass devices

Glass Breakthrough Could Transform Tiny Devices

31 July 2026

Image caption: Applications of fully sintered fused glass devices: plasma-in-a-chip (top two), microfluidic gas chamber integrated with resistive graphene sensor (middle left), double paddle oscillator (middle right), and 3D hemispherical and cylindrical shell resonators (bottom two). Image credit: Dr. Jingqin Mao, Dr...

An office with computers in and artistic representations of optical fibres for communication.

Specialty Optical Fibres Drive Photonics Innovation

24 July 2026

Image credit: Draconianimages on Pixabay. How do you make powerful optical technologies smaller, faster and more practical? That was the question at the heart of today's QAMSS lecture , which explored how advances in specialty optical fibres are enabling remarkable nonlinear effects to be achieved over distances measured...

Abstract image showing dots and beams of light moving over a contoured, gridded surface.

Materials That Move and Adapt Inspired by Nature

10 July 2026

Image credit: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay. By Dr. Karen Steward Materials that can move, change shape, heal themselves and adapt to their surroundings may sound like science fiction, but they are rapidly becoming a reality. That was the message delivered today by Prof. Eugene Terentjev , of the University of Cambridge, as he...

Graphic showing coloured blocks, upward pointing arrows and a contoured surface below.

Quantum Computing Needs Better Interfaces Not Just Better Qubits

3 July 2026

Image credit: Dr. Lorenzo Peri. By Dr. Karen Steward The biggest obstacle to building practical quantum computers may not be the qubits themselves but the vast tangle of electronics needed to control them. That was the key message from Dr. Lorenzo Peri of Quantum Motion Technologies, who delivered the latest QAMSS lecture...

A scientist works in a lab with digital interfaces an dan AI robot assisting.

Robot Scientist Vision Inspires Future of AI Discovery

26 June 2026

Image credit: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay. Artificial intelligence is no longer just helping scientists analyse data, it is beginning to make discoveries of its own. That was the compelling message delivered today as Professor Ross King explored how AI-powered Robot Scientists are transforming research and accelerating...

Schematic, simulated and photographic illustrations of silicon photonics based on 3 µm thick silicon-on-on-insulator waveguides

Photonics Set To Transform Communications and AI Networks

19 June 2026

Schematic, simulated and photographic illustrations of silicon photonics based on 3 µm thick silicon-on-on-insulator waveguides. Image credit: Timo Aalto and Mikko Harjanne. By Dr. Karen Steward Dr. Timo Aalto outlined how advances in photonic integrated circuits could underpin the next generation of communications...

Man standing in front of a lecture screen next to a lectern.

Light Polarisation Unlocks New Possibilities in Layered Materials

12 June 2026

A beam of light can do far more than illuminate a material, it can determine how electrical currents flow, how particles interact and even how light is emitted. Those possibilities were at the heart of the lecture delivered today as part of the QAMSS lecture series by Prof. Marcos H. D. Guimarães of University of Cambridge...

Quantum Photonics and Ultrafast Light Control Take Centre Stage

1 June 2026

The ability to generate, manipulate and detect individual photons is becoming increasingly important in the race to develop practical quantum technologies. At today's QAMSS lecture , Prof. Vladimir M. Shalaev of Purdue University explored how advances in integrated photonics and novel optical materials are helping to turn...

QAMSS Lecture Explores Optical Probes for Low-Dimensional Materials

29 May 2026

Light at length scales far below the wavelength of light was the focus of today’s QAMSS lecture, delivered by Prof. Antonio Ambrosio of the Center for Nano Science and Technology at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Milan. His lecture, “Light at the Right Scale: Optical Probes for Low-Dimensional Materials”, explored...

AI Memory Breakthroughs Shape Future of Neuromorphic Computing

22 May 2026

The future of artificial intelligence could depend as much on memory as processing power, and today’s QAMSS lecture explored how a new generation of materials may transform both. Dr. Markus Hellenbrand of the University of Cambridge outlined how advances in resistive switching technologies could overcome some of the most...