Applied optics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Near-eye displays are pivotal for building augmented and virtual reality platforms, but hurdles remain in achieving comfort and realistic visual experiences. Here, authors demonstrate compact 3D holographic glasses with focus cues by combining merits of waveguide displays and holographic displays.

    • Changwon Jang
    • , Kiseung Bang
    •  & Douglas Lanman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Processing of conventional infrared-transparent materials limits their applicability. The authors demonstrate 3D printing of thiol-ene optical components with mid- and long-wave infrared transparency with applications such as reaction temperature monitoring.

    • Piaoran Ye
    • , Zhihan Hong
    •  & Rongguang Liang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors introduce and demonstrate experimentally a novel fundamental property of nonlinear multimode optical systems, named mode rejection. This paves the way towards a more general idea of all-optical mode control and its related applications.

    • Kunhao Ji
    • , Ian Davidson
    •  & Massimiliano Guasoni

  • Article
    | Open Access

    MEMS-based photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are often limited in speed by mechanical resonances. Here the authors report a programmable architecture for PICs which uses mechanical eigenmodes for synchronized, resonantly enhanced optical modulation.

    • Mark Dong
    • , Julia M. Boyle
    •  & Dirk Englund

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The entanglement of fibrous elements produces flexible structures with enhanced strength and resilience to abrasion. Here, the authors report the weaving of organic crystals into flexible and robust patches with plain, twill, and satin topologies of arbitrary porosity, expanding one-dimensional crystals into flexible, two-dimensional planar structures with potential for future applications in flexible electronics.

    • Linfeng Lan
    • , Liang Li
    •  & Hongyu Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Structured light has proven useful for numerous photonic applications. However, its current use in optical fibers is severely limited. The authors report a highly integrated metafiber platform based on 3D laser nanoprinting, capable of creating arbitrarily structured light.

    • Chenhao Li
    • , Torsten Wieduwilt
    •  & Haoran Ren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Circularly polarized light adds a unique dimension to optical information processing and communication. Here, the authors present a development of a photonic artificial synapse device using chiral perovskite hybrid materials and carbon nanotubes. The heterostructure exhibits efficient synaptic and neuromorphic behaviors, enabling accurate recognition of circularly polarized images.

    • Qi Liu
    • , Qi Wei
    •  & Mingjie Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors demonstrate a very stable yet broadly tunable photonic THz source, characterized from 2 GHz to 1.4 THz. A very narrow Lamb dip feature is observed in a water absorption line, showcasing its potential for sub-kHz resolution spectroscopy.

    • Léo Djevahirdjian
    • , Loïc Lechevallier
    •  & Samir Kassi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The development of chemically diverse boron-oxygen-fused polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been limited by their synthetic complexity. Here, authors report a one-pot strategy for their facile synthesis and demonstrate their potential as ultralong afterglow and host materials for deep-blue OLEDs.

    • Guijie Li
    • , Kewei Xu
    •  & Yuan-Bin She

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing an efficient activation function for optical neural networks remains a challenge. Here, the authors demonstrate a modulator-detector-in-one graphene/silicon heterojunction ring resonators enabling on-chip reconfigurable activation function devices with phase activation capability for optical neural networks.

    • Chuyu Zhong
    • , Kun Liao
    •  & Hongtao Lin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Highly reflective surfaces are notorious in 3D sensing because they can cause errors in depth perception. Here, the authors devise a polarization structured light 3D sensor for this problem, in which high-contrast-grating VCSELs are used. Experiments are reported to demonstrate the sensor can be used to see and see through the highly reflective surfaces.

    • Xuanlun Huang
    • , Chenyang Wu
    •  & Connie J. Chang-Hasnain

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Researchers demonstrate robust optical communication around fully opaque occlusions, partially or entirely blocking the light path, using a pair of electronic encoder and passive diffractive decoder that are jointly optimized using deep learning.

    • Md Sadman Sakib Rahman
    • , Tianyi Gan
    •  & Aydogan Ozcan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this work the authors develop a Random optical parametric oscillator - the parametric analogous of random lasers. This system shows improved key metrics like tuneable repetition rates, tuneable pulse duration, inter-pulse coherence as well as simpler configuration compared with standard systems.

    • Pedro Tovar
    • , Jean Pierre von der Weid
    •  & Xiaoyi Bao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors demonstrate here a method for the production of arbitrarily long, light-guiding microstructured fibers with shape-memory properties. The showcased design of adaptative fibers here holds potential for the development of functional actuators and sensors.

    • Clément Strutynski
    • , Marianne Evrard
    •  & Frédéric Smektala

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report the realization of a sub-THz wireless data link based on a graphene-integrated optoelectronic mixer with a >96 GHz bandwidth, −44 dB upconversion efficiency and <0.1 mm2 footprint, providing an alternative approach for the realization of millimeter-wave transmitters.

    • Alberto Montanaro
    • , Giulia Piccinini
    •  & Marco Romagnoli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent years have seen a growing need for miniaturized spectroscopic tools. Here, authors present a novel integrated spectrometer with programmable photonic circuits, achieving record-high resolution and bandwidth via only a few filtering components.

    • Chunhui Yao
    • , Kangning Xu
    •  & Richard Penty

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Accelerated electron beams are potentially useful for imaging and different type of light sources. Here the authors demonstrate electron acceleration using metallic laser acceleration with efficiency comparable to that of dielectric laser accelerators.

    • Dingguo Zheng
    • , Siyuan Huang
    •  & Jianqi Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors show how concepts from metasurface flat optics and folded optics can be combined to push the limits in miniaturization of optical systems. Such optical systems can be fabricated using low-index materials, opening up a path for large-area fabrication using nanoimprint lithography.

    • Brandon Born
    • , Sung-Hoon Lee
    •  & Mark L. Brongersma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Due to the adjustable bandgap, flexibility, absence of heavy metals and high power per weight, organic laser converters have unique advantages in wireless power transfer. Here, authors integrate organic laser power converters exhibiting efficiency over 36% at 660 nm with photon flux of 9.5 mW/cm2.

    • Yafei Wang
    • , Zhong Zheng
    •  & Jianhui Hou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing high efficient optoelectronic memory remains a challenge. Here, the authors report a novel optoelectronic memory device based on a photosensitive dielectric that is an insulator in dark and a semiconductor under irradiation with multilevel storage ability, low energy consumption and good compatibility.

    • Rui Zhu
    • , Huili Liang
    •  & Zengxia Mei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In this work, authors report a transparent dynamic infrared emissivity modulation mechanism based on reversible injection/extraction of electrons in aluminium-doped zinc oxide nanocrystals and demonstrate it for smart thermal management applications.

    • Yan Jia
    • , Dongqing Liu
    •  & Tianwen Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Current multispectral video cameras can hardly scale up beyond megapixel resolution and do not apply to large-scale scenes. The authors design a tens-ofmegapixel handheld multi-spectral imaging scheme, build a setup achieving 65-megapixel videography of 12 wavebands, and show its wide applications.

    • Weihang Zhang
    • , Jinli Suo
    •  & Qionghai Dai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lithium niobate (LN) is difficult to process via dry etching. Here, authors demonstrate the fabrication of deeply etched, tightly confining, low loss LN photonic integrated circuits with losses 4 dB/m using diamond like carbon as a hard mask.

    • Zihan Li
    • , Rui Ning Wang
    •  & Tobias J. Kippenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Knowledge of atmospheric turbulence strength at various distances is critical for the development of effective solutions for turbulence mitigation. Here, authors demonstrate how to probe the distribution of turbulence strength along a propagation path with multiple longitudinally structured optical beams

    • Huibin Zhou
    • , Xinzhou Su
    •  & Alan E. Willner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Data security of internet is increasingly more demanding in the current era, yet the traditional electronic approach is limited in speed and efficiency. Here, the authors proposed a dual-layer optical encryption fluorescent polymer waveguide chip based on optical pulse-code modulation to mitigate the limitations.

    • Chunxue Wang
    • , Daming Zhang
    •  & Teng Fei

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasma can act as a tunable medium in electro-optical device. Here the authors demonstrate electrically induced transmission due to change in absorption in a microphotonic device consisting of a plasma-filled microcavity.

    • Baheej Bathish
    • , Raanan Gad
    •  & Tal Carmon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report the design and realization of an in-sensor computing optoelectronic device with programmable spectral responsivity based on an ensemble of cavity-enhanced MoS2 photodetectors. The device can perform direct analog processing during the light detection process, without the need to computationally reconstruct the entire optical spectra.

    • Dohyun Kwak
    • , Dmitry K. Polyushkin
    •  & Thomas Mueller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Determining earthquake faulting orientation is essential for understanding earthquake-stress interactions. Here, the authors present a technique that leverages telecom fiber optic cables to improve the estimation of this fundamental parameter.

    • Jiaxuan Li
    • , Weiqiang Zhu
    •  & Zhongwen Zhan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors present a fast mid-infrared hyperspectral chemical imaging technique that uses chirped pulse upconversion of sub-cycle pulses at the image plane, with lateral resolution of 15 µm and an adjustable field of view and large spectral range. They demonstrate identification and mapping different components in a microfluidic device, plant cell, and mouse embryo.

    • Yue Zhao
    • , Shota Kusama
    •  & Takao Fuji

  • Article
    | Open Access

    “Due to the inherent disorder and fluidity of water, machining of water through laser cutting is challenging. Here, authors report a strategy through laser cutting to realize the machining of nanoparticle encased water pancakes with the depth of water at sub-millimeter level.”

    • Jicheng Niu
    • , Wenjing Liu
    •  & Fei Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors develop a deep learning-based incoherent holographic camera system in order to deliver visually enhanced holograms in real-time. The neural network filters the noise in the captured holograms, and by integrating a holographic camera and a display, they demonstrate a holographic streaming system.

    • Hyeonseung Yu
    • , Youngrok Kim
    •  & Hong-Seok Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lithium niobate plays an important role in integrated photonics, but its widespread application requires a reliable solution. Here, the authors present a wafer-scale approach to LNOI integration via wafer bonding to silicon nitride PICs.

    • Mikhail Churaev
    • , Rui Ning Wang
    •  & Tobias J. Kippenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A microwave-rate soliton microcomb whose repetition rate can be modulated at 75 MHz. Moreover, the repetition rate can be locked to an external microwave reference by direct injection locking or feedback locking without external modulation.

    • Yang He
    • , Raymond Lopez-Rios
    •  & Qiang Lin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Squeezed light allows for quantum-enhanced, sub-shot-noise sensing, but its generation and use on a chip has so far remained elusive. Here, the authors fill this gap by demonstrating a thin-film lithium-niobate-based integrated quantum optical sensor, which beats shot-noise-limited SNR by ~ 4%.

    • Hubert S. Stokowski
    • , Timothy P. McKenna
    •  & Amir H. Safavi-Naeini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Silica glass is a high-performance material used in most branches of society from glassware and windows to optical lenses and fibers. Here, we develop a sintering-free method for 3D printing silica glass with sub-micrometer resolution and successfully demonstrate an optical microtoroid resonator.

    • Po-Han Huang
    • , Miku Laakso
    •  & Frank Niklaus

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The sparse, noisy, and distorted raw photon data captured by single-photon cameras make it difficult to estimate scene properties under challenging illumination conditions. Here, the authors present Collaborative photon processing for Active Single-Photon Imaging (CASPI), a technology-agnostic, application-agnostic, and training-free photon processing pipeline for high-resolution single-photon cameras.

    • Jongho Lee
    • , Atul Ingle
    •  & Mohit Gupta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In most optical computing schemes, the size of the chip increases quadratically with the problem size. Here, the authors demonstrate an architecture for optical convolutional neural networks which, while losing the independent reconfigurability of the kernels, allows for linear scaling of the circuit size.

    • Xiangyan Meng
    • , Guojie Zhang
    •  & Ming Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hybrid photonic–electronic systems are essential for high-throughput neuromorphic computing. Here, the authors report an in-memory photonic–electronic dot-product engine with decoupled electronic programming of the phase-change memory cells and parallel photonic computation with high-bit operation, low energy consumption, and high accuracy.

    • Wen Zhou
    • , Bowei Dong
    •  & Harish Bhaskaran

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