Optical techniques articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors fabricate a 3D achromatic diffractive metalens on the end face of a single-mode fiber, useful for endoscopic applications. They demonstrate achromatic and polarization insensitive focusing across the entire near-infrared telecommunication wavelength band ranging from 1.25 to 1.65 µm.

    • Haoran Ren
    • , Jaehyuck Jang
    •  & Stefan A. Maier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Infrared spectroscopy with plasmonic nanoantennas is limited by small overlap between molecules and hot spots, and sharp resonance peaks. The authors demonstrate spectral multiplexing of hook nanoantennas with gradient dimensions as ultrasensitive vibrational probes in a continuous ultra-broadband region and utilize machine learning for enhanced sensing performance.

    • Zhihao Ren
    • , Zixuan Zhang
    •  & Chengkuo Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Charging of interfaces between water and hydrophobic media is a mysterious feature whose nature and origin remain under debate. Here, the authors use opto-thermophoretic tweezers to investigate the interfacial behavior at water/oil interfaces in terms of thermal perturbation of dipole arrangement.

    • Youngsun Kim
    • , Hongru Ding
    •  & Yuebing Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hyperbolic phonon polaritons – mixed states of photons and anisotropic lattice vibrations – offer appealing properties for nanophotonic applications. Here, the authors show that the plasmon-phonon hybridization upon electronic doping in graphene/α-MoO3 heterostructures can induce topological transitions of the polariton wavefront.

    • Francesco L. Ruta
    • , Brian S. Y. Kim
    •  & D. N. Basov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pixelation is common in quantum imaging systems and limit the image spatial resolution. Here, the authors introduce a pixel super-resolution approach based on measuring the full spatially-resolved joint probability distribution of spatially-entangled photons, and improve pixel resolution by a factor two.

    • Hugo Defienne
    • , Patrick Cameron
    •  & Daniele Faccio

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Stable and tunable integrated lasers are fundamental building blocks for applications from spectroscopy to imaging and communication. Here the authors present a narrow linewidth hybrid photonic integrated laser with low frequency noise and fast linear wavelength tuning. They then provide an efficient FMCW LIDAR demonstration.

    • Grigory Lihachev
    • , Johann Riemensberger
    •  & Tobias J. Kippenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A label-free sensing method has been developed for identifying hazardous pathogens based on their intrinsic properties. This was possible by interrogating the temperature-dependent dielectric constant of the microbes in the far-infrared range.

    • S. W. Jun
    •  & Y. H. Ahn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the interaction of single chromophores with nanoparticles remains a challenging task in nanoscience. Here the authors provide insight into the interaction between isolated base-free phthalocyanine molecules and He and Ne nanoclusters in the gas phase using high-resolution two-dimensional spectroscopy.

    • Ulrich Bangert
    • , Frank Stienkemeier
    •  & Lukas Bruder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light field imaging typically requires large format detectors and yet often compromises resolution or speed. Here, compact light field photography is presented to lift both restrictions to see through and around severe occlusions in 3D and real time.

    • Xiaohua Feng
    • , Yayao Ma
    •  & Liang Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Imaging in scattering media is challenging due to signal attenuation and strong coupling of scattered and signal photons. The authors present a boundary migration model of the scattered field, converting scattered measurements in spectral form to scene information in temporal domain, and image Lambertian objects in highly scattering media.

    • Dongyu Du
    • , Xin Jin
    •  & Jingyan Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photonic integrated systems can be harnessed for fast and efficient optical telecommunication and metrology technologies. Here the authors develop a dual-soliton microcomb technique for massively parallel coherent laser ranging that requires only a single laser and a single photoreceiver.

    • Anton Lukashchuk
    • , Johann Riemensberger
    •  & Tobias J. Kippenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Though metasurface-based 3D colour routers are attractive for next-generation colour imaging systems, their complex fabrication and poor performance remain a bottleneck. Here, the authors use the inverse-design method to realize high performance metasurface-based Bayer-type colour routers.

    • Xiujuan Zou
    • , Youming Zhang
    •  & Zhenlin Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In the Bloch or Neel domain walls in ferromagnets, the magnetization rotates smoothly from up to down, preserving its magnitude. Here, Lee et al show that Co3Sn2S2 exhibits a phase transition within its domain walls to a state in which the magnetization passes through zero rather than rotating as the wall is traversed.

    • Changmin Lee
    • , Praveen Vir
    •  & Joseph Orenstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors introduce stimulated-emission induced excitation depletion (STExD) nanoscopy using a single pair of low-power, near-infrared, continue-wave lasers. Emission of multichromatic probes is inhibited by cascade amplified depletion in lanthanide upconversion systems induced by manipulating their common sensitizer.

    • Xin Guo
    • , Rui Pu
    •  & Qiuqiang Zhan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors demonstrate compact spectral light-field imaging by using a transversely dispersive metalens array and a monochrome imaging sensor. They show that 4D images can be obtained in a single shot, and demonstrate discrimination of visually indistinguishable objects.

    • Xia Hua
    • , Yujie Wang
    •  & Shining Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving high output powers in dual-comb sources is important for possible applications like deep UV high resolution spectroscopy. Here the authors demonstrate a fully passive scheme of generating a set of high-power dual-combs from a thin-disc gain medium.

    • Kilian Fritsch
    • , Tobias Hofer
    •  & Oleg Pronin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single molecule detection based on evanescent illumination usually require specially designed nanomaterials. Here, the authors show that single molecule detection can be realised on a plain glass surface via interference between the evanescent lights scattered by molecules and the natural roughness of the glass.

    • Pengfei Zhang
    • , Lei Zhou
    •  & Shaopeng Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Super-resolution microscopy is a powerful tool for cellular studies but requires bright and stable fluorescent probes. Here, the authors report on a strategy to introduce quinoxaline motifs to conventional probes to make them brighter, more photostable, larger Stokes shift, and demonstrate the probes for biosensing applications.

    • Gangwei Jiang
    • , Tian-Bing Ren
    •  & Lin Yuan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    'Recent developments in spectroscopy have witnessed the establishment of dual-comb techniques. In this work the authors demonstrate dual-comb photothermal spectroscopy providing gas sensing with superfine resolution and high sensitivity

    • Qiang Wang
    • , Zhen Wang
    •  & Wei Ren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors demonstrate intra-cavity excitation and time-domain sampling of coherent optical phonons inside an active laser oscillator. They discover that Terahertz crystal vibrations link successive ultrashort solitons which offers an approach to highspeed Raman spectroscopy inside laser cavities.

    • Alexandra Völkel
    • , Luca Nimmesgern
    •  & Georg Herink

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Inspired by the optical structure of bifocal compound eyes, the authors demonstrate a nanophotonic light-field camera with large depth of field. By using a spin-multiplexed bifocal metalens array and neural network-based reconstruction, they capture high-resolution images at centimeter to kilometer scale.

    • Qingbin Fan
    • , Weizhu Xu
    •  & Ting Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biosensors often report relative rather than absolute values. Here the authors report a method that utilises the photochromic properties of biosensors to provide an absolute measure of the analyte concentration or activity: photochromism-enabled absolute quantification (PEAQ) biosensing.

    • Franziska Bierbuesse
    • , Anaïs C. Bourges
    •  & Peter Dedecker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors introduce optical horn antennas, a nanophotonic platform combining plasmonic enhancement, efficient collection and background screening, for detection of UV autofluorescence from single proteins. They demonstrate label-free monitoring of protein unfolding and dissociation upon denaturation.

    • Aleksandr Barulin
    • , Prithu Roy
    •  & Jérôme Wenger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report purposefully perturbed wave chaos that enables analog signal processing with unprecedented fidelity and flexibility.

    • Jérôme Sol
    • , David R. Smith
    •  & Philipp del Hougne

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Frequency-modulated continuous wave LiDAR has suffered from limited 3D frame rates. Here, the authors combine a grating for beam steering with a compressed time-frequency analysis for depth retrieval, and demonstrate real-time densely sampled 3D imaging of moving objects with submillimetre localization accuracy.

    • Ruobing Qian
    • , Kevin C. Zhou
    •  & Joseph A. Izatt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The acquisition speed of two-photon fiberscopes is currently suboptimal. Here the authors report advances, including a high-speed scanner and down-sampling scheme as well as a two-stage deep learning (DL) algorithm, to allow high-speed, high-resolution imaging in freely moving mice.

    • Honghua Guan
    • , Dawei Li
    •  & Xingde Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-resolution photoacoustic tomography is challenging due to reduced efficiency of miniaturized piezoelectric elements. Here, the authors fabricate a miniaturized silicon-photonics acoustic detector coated with a sensitivity-enhancing elastomer, and demonstrate high-resolution in vivo imaging.

    • Yoav Hazan
    • , Ahiad Levi
    •  & Amir Rosenthal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors demonstrate high-speed imaging through multimode optical fibers by using the high intermodal dispersion to transform 2D spatial information into 1D temporal pulsed signal streams. Deep learning is used to reconstruct the images of micron-scale objects at high frame rates.

    • Zhoutian Liu
    • , Lele Wang
    •  & Qirong Xiao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding photo-physics giving rise to quantum beating oscillations in hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites aids their applications in spintronics and quantum information science. Here, authors demonstrate that quantum beatings observed in single crystal perovskite at cryogenic temperatures are originating from positive and negative trions.

    • Uyen N. Huynh
    • , Ye Liu
    •  & Z. Valy Vardeny

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoinduced changes in transmission, reflection and scattering prevent conventional pump-probe spectroscopy to unambiguously assign the origin of spectral signatures. Ashoka et al. have developed an optical modelling technique to extract quantitative and unambiguous changes in the dielectric function from standard pump-probe measurements.

    • Arjun Ashoka
    • , Ronnie R. Tamming
    •  & Akshay Rao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, Brillouin optical microscopy noninvasively visualizes microscale anisotropy of the porcine cornea owing to its lamellar fiber structure and quantifies the longitudinal moduli of the bulk tissue. Anisotropy is also detected in angle-resolved measurement of the human cornea in vivo.

    • Amira M. Eltony
    • , Peng Shao
    •  & Seok-Hyun Yun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    X-ray diffractive and refractive optical elements suffer from chromatic aberrations, limiting high-resolution X-ray microscopes mainly to bright synchrotron sources. Here, the authors experimentally realise an achromatic X-ray lens by combing a focusing diffractive Fresnel zone plate and a defocusing refractive lens.

    • Adam Kubec
    • , Marie-Christine Zdora
    •  & Christian David

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical microcavities are useful as probes in cells due to their narrow emission spectra and high sensitivity to environment. Here, the authors use the unique spectral features of microcavities, which are unaffected by tissue scattering, and show 3D localisation and tracking of cells deep in tissues.

    • Aljaž Kavčič
    • , Maja Garvas
    •  & Matjaž Humar

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemo-mechanical stress within Li-based batteries detrimentally affects the performance and lifetime of these devices. Here, the authors propose an operando technique using optical fibers embedded in electrodes for internal stress monitoring of cells containing either solid or liquid electrolytes.

    • Laura Albero Blanquer
    • , Florencia Marchini
    •  & Jean-Marie Tarascon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A continuum spanning from 300 and 3000 nm is used to synthesize a single-cycle field transient and measure its waveform through electro-optic sampling, speeding up this sensitive technique so that it can access the electric field of visible light.

    • Enrico Ridente
    • , Mikhail Mamaikin
    •  & Nicholas Karpowicz

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