Table of contents
Editorial
It's good to get out - p325
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.84
Although the expense involved and pressures of time sometimes make visiting conferences difficult, the benefits are often highly worthwhile.
Full Text - It's good to get out | PDF (1,205 KB) - It's good to get out
Commentary
Spasers explained - pp327 - 329
Mark I. Stockman
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.85
The spaser is a proposed nanoscale source of optical fields that is being investigated in a number of leading laboratories around the world. If realized, spasers could find a wide range of applications, including nanoscale lithography, probing and microscopy.
Full Text - Spasers explained | PDF (424 KB) - Spasers explained
Research Highlights
Squeezed light, spin flips, chirality checks, tweezers with floating electrodes, and more - pp330 - 331
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.86
Full Text - Squeezed light, spin flips, chirality checks, tweezers with floating electrodes, and more | PDF (967 KB) - Squeezed light, spin flips, chirality checks, tweezers with floating electrodes, and more
News and Views
Plasmonics: Finer optical tweezers - pp333 - 334
Peter J. Reece
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.88
The use of nanostructured gold substrates is now allowing optical tweezers to exploit plasmonics and confine nanoparticles to ever smaller dimensions.
Full Text - PlasmonicsFiner optical tweezers | PDF (1,398 KB) - PlasmonicsFiner optical tweezers
Solitons: Self-trapping of speckled light beams - pp334 - 335
Antonio Picozzi
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.89
A speckle beam of light breaks up into small fragments as it propagates in a standard self-focusing nonlinear material. Now, by exploiting the non-local thermal response of a material, it is possible to trap a speckle beam in a self-induced waveguide.
Full Text - SolitonsSelf-trapping of speckled light beams | PDF (825 KB) - SolitonsSelf-trapping of speckled light beams
Nanophotonics: Grating games - pp335 - 337
Harald Giessen
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.90
Diffraction gratings have a long history, but researchers in Sweden have now come up with a new method for producing one- and two-dimensional grating patterns. The approach could be useful for fabricating complicated nanostructures and optical devices.
Full Text - NanophotonicsGrating games | PDF (1,562 KB) - NanophotonicsGrating games
Optical quantum circuits: To the quantum level - p337
David Gevaux
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.92
Full Text - Optical quantum circuitsTo the quantum level | PDF (1,262 KB) - Optical quantum circuitsTo the quantum level
View from...FOM 2008: Beyond the limit - pp338 - 339
Rachel Won
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.91
Beating the diffraction limit of light is not a simple task. However, as reported at the recent Focus on Microscopy conference in Japan, solutions are being found.
Full Text - View from...FOM 2008Beyond the limit | PDF (1,396 KB) - View from...FOM 2008Beyond the limit
High-harmonic generation: Observing quantum interference - p339
Oliver Graydon
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.87
Full Text - High-harmonic generationObserving quantum interference | PDF (551 KB) - High-harmonic generationObserving quantum interference
Errata
Ceramic future - p340
Rachel Won
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.104
Antenna-enhanced detectors - p340
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.93
Full Text - Antenna-enhanced detectors | PDF (176 KB) - Antenna-enhanced detectors
Review
Carbon-nanotube photonics and optoelectronics - pp341 - 350
Phaedon Avouris, Marcus Freitag & Vasili Perebeinos
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.94
Carbon nanotubes possess unique properties that make them potentially useful in many applications in optoelectronics. This review describes the fundamental optical behaviour of carbon nanotubes as well as their opportunities for light generation and detection, and photovoltaic energy generation.
Abstract - | Full Text - Carbon-nanotube photonics and optoelectronics | PDF (1,873 KB) - Carbon-nanotube photonics and optoelectronics
Letters
Lasing spaser - pp351 - 354
N. I. Zheludev, S. L. Prosvirnin, N. Papasimakis & V. A. Fedotov
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.82
The 'spaser' (surface plasmon amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is a relatively new and exciting concept analogous to the laser. It involves amplifying specific surface plasmon modes using a nanoscale device. Zheludev and co-workers extend this concept by suggesting that metamaterials could be used to create a lasing spaser, that is, a spaser that can emit light with high spatial coherence.
Abstract - | Full Text - Lasing spaser | PDF (568 KB) - Lasing spaser
Subject Categories: Plasmonics | Novel materials and engineered structures | Nanophotonics
Optical frequency comb with submillihertz linewidth and more than 10 W average power - pp355 - 359
T. R. Schibli,
I. Hartl,
D. C. Yost,
M. J. Martin,
A. Marcinkevi
ius,
M. E. Fermann
&
J. Ye
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.79
Mode–locked fibre lasers enable high–power yet very stable optical frequency combs, paving the way towards higher resolution spectroscopy. The power scalability of such fibre–based systems opens the possibility of frequency combs operating with average powers in excess of 10 kW.
Abstract - | Full Text - Optical frequency comb with submillihertz linewidth and more than 10 W average power | PDF (367 KB) - Optical frequency comb with submillihertz linewidth and more than 10 W average power
Subject Categories: Nonlinear optics | Ultrafast photonics
Grating formation by metal-nanoparticle-mediated coupling of light into waveguided modes - pp360 - 364
L. Eurenius, C. Hägglund, E. Olsson, B. Kasemo & D. Chakarov
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.80
We report the experimental observation of one- and two-dimensional grating patterns formed in a disordered metal-nanoparticle layer by a single light pulse. The phenomenon is attributed to interference effects between the incident light and waveguided modes. Such self-patterning behaviour could be useful for the fabrication of complex nanostructures and advanced photonic devices.
Abstract - | Full Text - Grating formation by metal-nanoparticle-mediated coupling of light into waveguided modes | PDF (391 KB) - Grating formation by metal-nanoparticle-mediated coupling of light into waveguided modes
Subject Categories: Fundamental optical physics | Plasmonics | Nanophotonics
See also: News and Views by Giessen
Articles
Nanometric optical tweezers based on nanostructured substrates - pp365 - 370
A. N. Grigorenko, N. W. Roberts, M. R. Dickinson & Y. Zhang
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.78
Optical tweezers are well known for being able to control and move microscopic objects with high precision using focused laser beams. Alexander Grigorenko and colleagues report three-dimensional tweezers based on coupled pairs of gold nanodots in standard tweezer set-ups, which offer improved trapping efficiencies and reduced trapping volumes. Their tweezers could pave the way to improved manipulation of fragile, tiny biological objects.
Abstract - | Full Text - Nanometric optical tweezers based on nanostructured substrates | PDF (477 KB) - Nanometric optical tweezers based on nanostructured substrates | Supplementary information
Subject Categories: Nanophotonics | Plasmonics
See also: News and Views by Reece
Incoherent spatial solitons in effectively instantaneous nonlinear media - pp371 - 376
Carmel Rotschild, Tal Schwartz, Oren Cohen & Mordechai Segev
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.81
Incoherent optical spatial solitons are self-trapped beams with a multimodal structure that varies randomly in time. All incoherent solitons observed so far have been supported by nonlinearities with slow response times. Here, Segev and colleagues demonstrate such solitons in nonlinear media with fast (essentially instantaneous) response times and show that new physical features appear.
Abstract - | Full Text - Incoherent spatial solitons in effectively instantaneous nonlinear media | PDF (422 KB) - Incoherent spatial solitons in effectively instantaneous nonlinear media
Subject Categories: Fundamental optical physics | Nonlinear optics
See also: News and Views by Picozzi
Corrigendum
Superconducting nanowire photon-number-resolving detector at telecommunication wavelengths - p377
Aleksander Divochiy, Francesco Marsili, David Bitauld, Alessandro Gaggero, Roberto Leoni, Francesco Mattioli, Alexander Korneev, Vitaliy Seleznev, Nataliya Kaurova, Olga Minaeva, Gregory Gol'tsman, Konstantinos G. Lagoudakis, Moushab Benkhaoul, Francis Lévy & Andrea Fiore
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.95
Full Text - Superconducting nanowire photon-number-resolving detector at telecommunication wavelengths | PDF (71 KB) - Superconducting nanowire photon-number-resolving detector at telecommunication wavelengths
Photonics at NPG
A round-up of recent papers in the field of photonics published by the physical sciences division of the Nature Publishing Group - pp378 - 379
Full Text - A round-up of recent papers in the field of photonics published by the physical sciences division of the Nature Publishing Group | PDF (766 KB) - A round-up of recent papers in the field of photonics published by the physical sciences division of the Nature Publishing Group
Product Focus
Nonlinear crystals - pp380 - 381
Neil Savage
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.97
Optical crystals with a strong nonlinear response to light are important tools in photonics, enabling applications ranging from wavelength conversion to short-pulse generation. Neil Savage surveys some of the materials on offer and their uses.
Full Text - Nonlinear crystals | PDF (390 KB) - Nonlinear crystals
Interview
Mind the trap - p382
Interview with Alexander Grigorenko
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.98
Trapping objects using light is a well-known technique. But designing traps that are subwavelength in size is a less well-explored avenue. Nature Photonics spoke to Alexander Grigorenko about the potential benefits.