Nanoscience and technology articles within Nature Photonics

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  • Article |

    An integrated nanoscale light-emitting diode is used as an electrically driven optical source for exciting two-dimensionally localized gap plasmon waveguides with a 0.016λ2 cross-sectional area. Electrically driven subwavelength optical nanocircuits for routing, splitting and directional coupling are demonstrated in compact and relatively low-loss gap plasmon waveguide structures.

    • Kevin C. Y. Huang
    • , Min-Kyo Seo
    •  & Mark L. Brongersma

  • Letter |

    Polarization-entangled photon pairs are generated from an In(Ga)As quantum dot by setting the pump intensity such that the inversion of the quantum dot from the ground to the biexcitonic state is the most probable transition. On-demand generation is demonstrated with an ultrahigh purity, a high entanglement fidelity and high two-photon-interference non-post-selective visibilities.

    • M. Müller
    • , S. Bounouar
    •  & P. Michler

  • Review Article |

    Optical generation of hot electrons in metallic structures and its potential as an alternative to conventional electron–hole separation in semiconductor devices are reviewed. The possibilities for realizing high conversion efficiencies with low fabrication costs are discussed along with challenges in terms of the materials, architectures and fabrication methods

    • César Clavero

  • News & Views |

    DNA tethers guide the self-assembly of colloidal metal nanoparticles into three-dimensional optical metamaterials. The observation of epsilon-near-zero behaviour in nanoparticle-based materials indicates that bottom-up assembly may be a viable solution to current challenges in the manufacture of metamaterials.

    • Andrea R. Tao

  • Letter |

    Simultaneous detection of electric and magnetic fields with a subwavelength resolution is achieved by a near-field scanning approach. Additionally, theoretical considerations provide guidelines for designing probes sensitive to specific desired combinations of electric- and magnetic-field components.

    • B. le Feber
    • , N. Rotenberg
    •  & L. Kuipers

  • Letter |

    Clear evidence is presented for the origins of photocurrent generation in metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes — photocurrent is found to be mainly generated by photothermal and photovoltaic effects in metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes, respectively. This finding will enable the engineering of highly efficient carbon-based photodetectors and energy-harvesting devices.

    • Maria Barkelid
    •  & Val Zwiller

  • Article |

    Topological edge states of light are observed in a two-dimensional array of coupled optical ring resonators, which induce a virtual magnetic field for photons using silicon-on-insulator technology. The edge states are experimentally demonstrated to be robust against intrinsic and introduced disorder, which is a hallmark of topological order.

    • M. Hafezi
    • , S. Mittal
    •  & J. M. Taylor

  • Article |

    A stretchable polymer LED is fabricated that is capable of emitting light when subjected to strains as large as 120%. A prototype 5 × 5 pixel monochrome display based on an array of these LEDs is demonstrated.

    • Jiajie Liang
    • , Lu Li
    •  & Qibing Pei

  • Article |

    An array of piezoelectric nanowire LEDs with a pixel density of 6,350 dpi is capable of mapping two-dimensional pressure distributions with a spatial resolution of 2.7 micrometres. Pressure alters the light emissions from the LEDs, which are then imaged. Possible applications include artificial skin, robotics and touchpads.

    • Caofeng Pan
    • , Lin Dong
    •  & Zhong Lin Wang

  • News & Views |

    New themes such as quantum effects and nonlocality presented at the Sixth International Conference on Surface Plasmon Photonics along with new work in traditional fields indicate that plasmonics is not slowing down yet.

    • David Pile

  • Interview |

    A laser with a record low energy cost has now been demonstrated by using a laser cavity based on photonic crystals. Shinji Matsuo of NTT Photonics Laboratories in Japan talked to Nature Photonics about its significance.

    • Noriaki Horiuchi

  • Letter |

    An array of pyramidal site-controlled InGaAs1−δNδ quantum dots is grown on a GaAs substrate to reduce the fine-structure splitting of the intermediate single-exciton energy levels to less than 4 μeV. The quantum dots emit polarization-entangled photons at a maximum fidelity of 0.721 ± 0.043 without external manipulation of the electronic states.

    • Gediminas Juska
    • , Valeria Dimastrodonato
    •  & Emanuele Pelucchi

  • Commentary |

    Confinement and enhancement of light by plasmonics allows a high density of independent subwavelength sensor elements to be constructed in micrometre-sized arrays. It is relatively straightforward to integrate those sensors into microfluidics chips, making plasmonic structures promising for use in next-generation modern biosensors.

    • Alexandre G. Brolo

  • Letter |

    Researchers investigate the internal gain of InAsP quantum dots embedded in an InP nanowire by performing photocurrent measurements down to the single-photon regime. The resulting gain ( > 104) is a significant step towards single-shot electrical read-out of an exciton qubit state for the transfer of quantum information between flying and stationary qubits.

    • Gabriele Bulgarini
    • , Michael E. Reimer
    •  & Val Zwiller

  • News & Views |

    Could holes in semiconductor quantum dots be a more appealing alternative to electrons for realizing stable and scalable solid-state spin qubits for quantum information processing? The latest findings detailing two coupled dots and improved coherence times suggest that the answer may be yes.

    • Alexander Tartakovskii

  • News & Views |

    High-performance, ultracompact lenses are needed in the quest to miniaturize optical systems. It now seems that carefully engineered subwavelength gratings can function as almost perfect mirrors with custom-designed focusing properties.

    • Lukas Chrostowski

  • Article |

    Scientists demonstrate that a single 7.5-μm-diameter microdisk laser coupled to a silicon-on-insulator wire waveguide can work as an all-optical flip-flop memory. Under a continuous bias of 3.5 mA, flip-flop operation is demonstrated using optical triggering pulses of 1.8 fJ and with a switching time of 60 ps. This device is attractive for on-chip all-optical signal buffering, switching, and processing.

    • Liu Liu
    • , Rajesh Kumar
    •  & Geert Morthier

  • Letter |

    Active switching of plasmons by an external magnetic field is demonstrated in a metal–ferromagnet–metal structure. The strong modulation, combined with possible all-optical magnetization reversal induced by femtosecond light pulses, opens the door to ultrafast magneto-plasmonic switching.

    • Vasily V. Temnov
    • , Gaspar Armelles
    •  & Rudolf Bratschitsch

  • News & Views |

    It has long been known that the optical resonances of ultrahigh-Q whispering gallery mode resonators can split under the influence of particle scattering. Now scientists have exploited this splitting to accurately determine particle sizes.

    • Tobias J. Kippenberg

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