Volume 11 Issue 7, July 2017

The discrete quantum nature of plasmons may be exploited to make efficient single-photon sources. Despite the losses associated with metallic resonators, advantages over dielectric counterparts exist when it comes to producing efficient quantum emitters.

Two concurrent demonstrations of programmable photonic processors based on large meshes of interconnected waveguides on a silicon chip provide new hope for optical information processing.

A feasible route towards electron microscopy at the attosecond timescale is now possible thanks to the implementation of an optical gating approach.

An external 'tuning knob' by means of applying a transverse electric field has been experimentally demonstrated to modify the bandgap of black phosphorus, making the two-dimensional material practical for integration in functional nanodevices.

Reports of photon–photon interaction experiments, novel imaging schemes and state-of-the-art mirrors were highlights of the recent International Conference on X-ray Optics and Applications in Yokohama, Japan.

Single-pixel system enables hyperspectral fluorescent lifetime imaging.

Thin and lightweight retroreflectors of infrared light have been created from pairs of silicon metasurfaces.

Phase velocity of graphene plasmons is electrically controlled in a set-up enabling tuning of the phase between 0 and 2π.

Ultrafast electron microscopy with an order-of-magnitude enhancement in the typical temporal resolution is demonstrated, permitting the imaging of ultrafast electron dynamics that last a few tens of femtoseconds.

Exploitation of the valley electronic structure of transition metal dichalcogenides with exciton–polaritons is an elusive challenge. Now, valley-polarized exciton–polaritons in monolayers of MoS₂ have been demonstrated.

Methyl ammonium lead triiodide perovskite wafers for application in direct conversion X-ray detectors are fabricated by a room-temperature sintering process. A conversion efficiency of 2,527 mC Gy_aircm^–2 under 70 kVp X-ray exposure is obtained.

Programmable silicon nanophotonic processor empowers optical neural networks.

A large-scale, low-loss and phase-stable programmable nanophotonic processor is fabricated to explore quantum transport phenomena. The signature of environment-assisted quantum transport in discrete-time systems is observed for the first time.