Optics

At EPFL, a team of scientists created and observed a new physical phenomenon on an optical chip using modified lights.

Thanks to the high-power electron microscopes at the Dubochet Center for Imaging (DCI), EPFL scientists were able to observe the configuration of the Omicron variant’s spike protein at a near-atomic scale. This should provide fresh insight into the mechanisms the variant uses to evade vaccines and antibodies.

Scientists in Switzerland and Germany have achieved efficient electron-beam modulation using integrated photonics – circuits that guide light on a chip. The experiments could lead to entirely new quantum measurement schemes in electron microscopy.