Using a new type of low-power, compact, fluid-based prism to steer the beam in a laser scanning microscope could transform brain imaging and help researchers learn more about neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

The “electrowetting prism” utilized was developed by a team led by Juliet Gopinath from the electrical, computer and energy engineering and physics departments at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU Boulder) and Victor Bright from CU Boulder’s mechanical engineering department, as part of their ongoing collaboration on electrically controllable optical elements for improving microscopy techniques.

“We quickly became interested in biological imaging, and work with a neuroscience group at University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus that uses mouse models to study neuroscience,” Gopinath tells Physics World. “Neuroscience is not well understood, as illustrated by the neurodegenerative diseases that don’t have good cures. So a great benefit of this technology is the potential to study, detect and treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and schizophrenia,” she explains.

The researchers fabricated their patented electrowetting prism using custom deposition and lithography methods. The device consists of two immiscible liquids housed in a 5 mm tall, 4 mm diameter glass tube, with a dielectric layer on the inner wall coating four independent electrodes. When an electric field is produced by applying a potential difference between a pair of electrodes on opposite sides of the tube, it changes the surface tension and therefore the curvature of the meniscus between the two liquids. Light passing through the device is refracted by a different amount depending on the angle of tilt of the meniscus (as well as on the optical properties of the liquids chosen), enabling beams to be steered by changing the voltage on the electrodes.

Beam steering for scanning in imaging and microscopy can be achieved via several means, including mechanically controlled mirrors, glass prisms or acousto-optic deflectors (in which a sound wave is used to diffract the light beam). But, unlike the new electrowetting prisms, these methods consume too much power and are not small or lightweight enough to be used for miniature microscopy of neural activity in the brains of living animals.

In tests detailed in Optics Express, the researchers integrated their electrowetting prism into an existing two-photon laser scanning microscope and successfully imaged individual 5 µm-diameter fluorescent polystyrene beads, as well as large clusters of those beads.

They also used computer simulation to study how the liquid–liquid interface moved, and found that when a sinusoidal voltage is used for actuation, at 25 and 75 Hz, standing wave resonance modes occur at the meniscus – a result closely matched by a subsequent experiment that showed resonances at 24 and 72 Hz. These resonance modes are important for enhancing device performance since they increase the angle through which the meniscus can tilt and thus enable optical beams to be steered through a greater range of angles, which helps minimize distortions when raster scanning in two dimensions.

Bright explains that this research built on previous work in which an electrowetting prism was used in a benchtop microscope to image a mouse brain. He cites seeing the individual neurons as a standout moment that, coupled with the current results, shows their prism is now “proven and ready to go”.

Gopinath and Bright caution that “more work is needed to allow human brain scans, such as limiting voltage requirements, allowing the device to operate at safe voltage levels, and miniaturization of the device to allow faster scan speeds and acquiring images at a much faster rate”. But they add that miniaturization would also make the device useful for endoscopy, robotics, chip-scale atomic clocks and space-based communication between satellites.

The team has already begun investigating two other potential applications: LiDAR (light detection and ranging) systems and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Next, the researchers “hope to integrate the device into a miniaturized microscope to allow imaging of the brain in freely moving animals in natural outside environments,” they say. “We also aim to improve the packaging of our devices so they can be integrated into many other imaging systems.”

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Intuitive Machines, a lunar lander company, announced Nov. 4 it is buying Lanteris Space Systems, a satellite builder formerly known as Maxar.

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Through missions currently on the books for the Japan Space Agency JAXA, the U.S. Space Force, European Space Agency, UK Space Agency and Eutelsat OneWeb, the Tokyo-based on-orbit servicing company Astroscale aims to demonstrate inspection and proximity operations, rendezvous and docking, debris removal and refueling. When Astroscale was founded in 2013, the business was focused […]

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A Chinese institute recently completed ground tests on what it describes as a reconfigurable flexible on-orbit manufacturing platform, targeting future large-scale, low-cost space manufacturing.

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The renewed interest in the moon can arguably be traced back to the 2009 discovery of water ice on the lunar surface. Much of the narrative in the intervening decade and a half has been set to a background score of a military drumroll slowly gathering pace. The competing visions vis-à-vis lunar exploration and exploitation […]

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To coincide with a week of quantum-related activities organized by the Institute of Physics (IOP) in the UK, Physics World has just published a free-to-read digitial magazine to bring you up to date about all the latest developments in the quantum world.

The 62-page Physics World Quantum Briefing 2.0 celebrates the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ) and also looks ahead to a quantum-enhanced future.

Marking 100 years since the advent of quantum mechanics, IYQ aims to raise awareness of the impact of quantum physics and its myriad future applications, with a global diary of quantum-themed public talks, scientific conferences, industry events and more.

The 2025 Physics World Quantum Briefing 2.0, which follows on from the first edition published in May, contains yet more quantum topics for you to explore and is once again divided into “history”, “mystery” and “industry”.

You can find out more about the contributions of Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose to quantum science; explore weird phenomena such as causal order and quantum superposition; and discover the latest applications of quantum computing.

A century after quantum mechanics was first formulated, many physicists are still undecided on some of the most basic foundational questions. There’s no agreement on which interpretation of quantum mechanics holds strong; whether the wavefunction is merely a mathematical tool or a true representation of reality; or what impact an observer has on a quantum state.

Some of the biggest unanswered questions in physics – such as finding the quantum/classical boundary or reconciling gravity and quantum mechanics – lie at the heart of these conundrums. So as we look to the future of quantum – from its fundamentals to its technological applications – let us hope that some answers to these puzzles will become apparent as we crack the quantum code to our universe.

• Read the Physics World Quantum Briefing 2.0 for free today.

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Nitazenes, a class of synthetic drugs 40 times more potent than fentanyl, are steadily becoming more common on both sides of the Atlantic.

By combining LED technology and nanomaterials, researchers have created a therapy that eliminates cancer cells using localized heat without damaging healthy tissue.

The United Kingdom must move swiftly to turn ambition into action after falling short of a vision outlined three years ago to become a major global space power, a cross-party parliamentary committee warned Nov. 3.

The post Lawmakers warn UK must act now to get space ambitions back on track appeared first on SpaceNews.

A Region in Motion The global space sector is evolving faster than ever, with new technologies, shifting geopolitics, and fresh investment cycles redefining what “doing space” means. Amid this transformation, […]

The post Latin America’s Space Momentum Takes Center Stage at LATSAT 2025 appeared first on SpaceNews.

Learn how tardigrades are able to tolerate extreme radiation with a unique protein that unwinds their DNA.

Learn more about the connection between nighttime light exposure and heart disease, and how you can help protect yourself.

Learn more about Maya daykeepers and how they created lunar calendar tables to predict celestial events.

Learn more about bowhead whales and how they routinely see out their 200th birthday — and this DNA-repair protein might just be how.

Learn more about the ways viral infections can impact people with and without chronic diseases.

Learn how scientists uncovered a surprising link between long-term melatonin use and heart failure in chronic insomnia patients.

Paleontologists use drones and brightly colored lichen to search for fossils in the Canadian Badlands

Tides and glacial earthquakes caused record ice loss at Hektoria Glacier

New study reinforces worries about “mass production of junk” by unscrupulous scholars aiming to pad their CVs

This month-long meteor shower peaks just after mid-November and is known for producing bright “fireball” shooting stars. Here’s what to know about Leonids and other major showers that will appear in 2025.

A panel of leading space industry executives will explore the trajectory of space technology over the next decade, examining how the long-imagined future depicted in comic books and science fiction […]

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Unless you’ve been living under a stone, you can’t have failed to notice that 2025 marks the first 100 years of quantum mechanics. A massive milestone, to say the least, about which much has been written in Physics World and elsewhere in what is the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ). However, I’d like to focus on a specific piece of quantum technology, namely quantum computing.

I keep hearing about quantum computers, so people must be using them to do cool things, and surely they will soon be as commonplace as classical computers. But as a physicist-turned-engineer working in the aerospace sector, I struggle to get a clear picture of where things are really at. If I ask friends and colleagues when they expect to see quantum computers routinely used in everyday life, I get answers ranging from “in the next two years” to “maybe in my lifetime” or even “never”.

Before we go any further, it’s worth reminding ourselves that quantum computing relies on several key quantum properties, including superposition, which gives rise to the quantum bit, or qubit. The basic building block of a quantum computer – the qubit – exists as a combination of 0 and 1 states at the same time and is represented by a probabilistic wave function. Classical computers, in contrast, use binary digital bits that are either 0 or 1.

Also vital for quantum computers is the notion of entanglement, which is when two or more qubits are co-ordinated, allowing them to share their quantum information. In a highly correlated system, a quantum computer can explore many paths simultaneously. This “massive scale” parallel processing is how quantum may solve certain problems exponentially faster than a classical computer.

The other key phenomenon for quantum computers is quantum interference. The wave-like nature of qubits means that when different probability amplitudes are in phase, they combine constructively to increase the likelihood of the right solution. Conversely, destructive interference occurs when amplitudes are out of phase, making it more likely to get the wrong answer.

Quantum interference is important in quantum computing because it allows quantum algorithms to amplify the probability of correct answers and suppress incorrect ones, making calculations much faster. Along with superposition and entanglement, it means that quantum computers could process and store vast numbers of probabilities at once, outstripping even the best classical supercomputers.

Towards real devices

To me, it all sounds exciting, but what have quantum computers ever done for us so far? It’s clear that quantum computers are not ready to be deployed in the real world. Significant technological challenges need to be overcome before they become fully realisable. In any case, no-one is expecting quantum computers to displace classical computers “like for like”: they’ll both be used for different things.

Yet it seems that the very essence of quantum computing is also its Achilles heel. Superposition, entanglement and interference – the quantum properties that will make it so powerful – are also incredibly difficult to create and maintain. Qubits are also extremely sensitive to their surroundings. They easily lose their quantum state due to interactions with the environment, whether via stray particles, electromagnetic fields, or thermal fluctuations. Known as decoherence, it makes quantum computers prone to error.

That’s why quantum computers need specialized – and often cryogenically controlled – environments to maintain the quantum states necessary for accurate computation. Building a quantum system with lots of interconnected qubits is therefore a major, expensive engineering challenge, with complex hardware and extreme operating conditions. Developing “fault-tolerant” quantum hardware and robust error-correction techniques will be essential if we want reliable quantum computation.

As for the development of software and algorithms for quantum systems, there’s a long way to go, with a lack of mature tools and frameworks. Quantum algorithms require fundamentally different programming paradigms to those used for classical computers. Put simply, that’s why building reliable, real-world deployable quantum computers remains a grand challenge.

What does the future hold?

Despite the huge amount of work that still lies in store, quantum computers have already demonstrated some amazing potential. The US firm D-Wave, for example, claimed earlier this year to have carried out simulations of quantum magnetic phase transitions that wouldn’t be possible with the most powerful classical devices. If true, this was the first time a quantum computer had achieved “quantum advantage” for a practical physics problem (whether the problem was worth solving is another question).

There is also a lot of research and development going on around the world into solving the qubit stability problem. At some stage, there will likely be a breakthrough design for robust and reliable quantum computer architecture. There is probably a lot of technical advancement happening right now behind closed doors.

The first real-world applications of quantum computers will be akin to the giant classical supercomputers of the past. If you were around in the 1980s, you’ll remember Cray supercomputers: huge, inaccessible beasts owned by large corporations, government agencies and academic institutions to enable vast amounts of calculations to be performed (provided you had the money).

And, if I believe what I read, quantum computers will not replace classical computers, at least not initially, but work alongside them, as each has its own relative strengths. Quantum computers will be suited for specific and highly demanding computational tasks, such as drug discovery, materials science, financial modelling, complex optimization problems and increasingly large artificial intelligence and machine-learning models.

These are all things beyond the limits of classical computer resource. Classical computers will remain relevant for everyday tasks like web browsing, word processing and managing databases, and they will be essential for handling the data preparation, visualization and error correction required by quantum systems.

And there is one final point to mention, which is cyber security. Quantum computing poses a major threat to existing encryption methods, with potential to undermine widely used public-key cryptography. There are concerns that hackers nowadays are storing their stolen data in anticipation of future quantum decryption.

Having looked into the topic, I can now see why the timeline for quantum computing is so fuzzy and why I got so many different answers when I asked people when the technology would be mainstream. Quite simply, I still can’t predict how or when the tech stack will pan out. But as IYQ draws to a close, the future for quantum computers is bright.

• More information about the quantum marketplace can be found in the 2025 Physics World Quantum Briefing 2.0 and in a two-part article by Philip Ball (available here and here).

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As the world watches the push for crewed lunar missions, it is tempting to frame the unfolding dynamic between the United States and China as a modern-day space race, with the lunar surface as the stage for a sovereignty contest. But equating the moon with contested maritime zones like the South China Sea, as a […]

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China launched a new Yaogan reconnaissance satellite late Sunday, following India’s launch of its highest mass communications satellite to date.

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