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Technology focus

Once used only in laboratories, spectrometers are now finding their way into manufacturing plants, improving profitability and efficiency. Spectroscopy technologies are growing because of market demand, but it is improved analytical instrument design that has enabled this growth.


Focus

Slow light

Focus issue

Control over the velocity of light pulses leads to a host of exciting opportunities. In this special Focus issue, we present a collection of articles that describe the evolution of the field, the fundamental physics and the different approaches that are developing.


Advance online publication

Photonic crystal fibres

Letter by Skibina et al.

Hollow–core photonic–crystal fibres enable confinement of light on a much tighter scale than is possible with conventional fibre. But dispersion makes it difficult to transmit very short, sub 100 fs, pulses over long distances. A chirped structure could offer a solution.


Advance online publication

3D photonic crystals

Article by Aoki et al.

A design of on–chip optomechanical resonator that simultaneously maximizes a high mechanical Q–factor in the megahertz range and an ultrahigh optical finesse is reported. This structure enables the first direct observation of mechanical normal–mode coupling in a micromechanical system.


Advance online publication

Optical manipulation

Letter by Baumgartl et al.

Airy beams – an unusual class of optical waves — can now be used for optical manipulation. Without moving the beam, particles are transported along curved paths, a technique that seems poised for many microfluidic applications especially in the biological sciences.


Conference

A report on the Nature Photonics conference, which took place at the end of October in Tokyo. All the presentations that were given at the event are now available.

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