ENG: Caltech researchers have developed a photonic chip platform that allows light to propagate through on chip waveguides with extremely low loss, approaching optical fiber like performance even at visible wavelengths. Achieving such low loss on a chip is important because it preserves optical coherence, which improves the stability of lasers and supports photonic systems for precision sensing, timing, and quantum technologies.
ENG: As the world creates more data every day, scientists are looking for ways to store information in much smaller spaces without losing reliability. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart report a promising step in that direction. By introducing a very small twist between ultra thin layers of a magnetic material called chromium iodide, they produced tiny, stable magnetic swirls known as skyrmions. These structures are extremely robust, which is why they are so interesting as potential building blocks for future high density data storage.
