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Actively tunable laser action in GeSn nanomechanical oscillators
An on-chip tunable laser operates by harnessing nanomechanical resonances at the radio frequency, achieving ultralow tuning power consumption.
- Hyo-Jun Joo
- , Jiawen Liu
- & Donguk Nam
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Article |
Nanosurface-reconstructed perovskite for highly efficient and stable active-matrix light-emitting diode display
Acid-etching-driven nanosurface reconstruction of perovskite quantum-dot pure-red LEDs facilitates a peak external quantum efficiency of 28.5% and a half-lifetime of 30 h at 100 cd m−2 luminance, enabling highly efficient solution-processed active-matrix perovskite displays.
- Hongjin Li
- , Yifeng Feng
- & Zhizhen Ye
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Article |
Upconversion electroluminescence in 2D semiconductors integrated with plasmonic tunnel junctions
Plasmonic tunnel junctions integrated with a monolayer semiconductor are found to emit photons with energies exceeding the input electrical potential. This peculiar phenomenon is ascribed to being triggered by inelastic electron tunnelling dipoles inducing optically forbidden transitions in the carrier injection electrode.
- Zhe Wang
- , Vijith Kalathingal
- & Goki Eda
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News & Views |
Nanoparticles subdue antibiotic-resistant bacteria’s defences while enhancing innate immunity
A method for overcoming antibiotic resistance uses multimodal nanoparticles that target bacterial defence mechanisms while enhancing the innate immune response.
- Julia C. Lang
- & Keira Melican
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Research Briefing |
Light manipulation with sub-pixel wavefront control using gap phases
How can light be efficiently manipulated below the single-pixel level? An answer is now provided using near-field interactions for nanopillars in a metasurface — phase gradients in the gaps between the nanopillars constitute a new degree of freedom that enables efficient wavefront control at the nanoscale.
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Highly efficient vortex generation at the nanoscale
A metasurface consisting of merely four nanopillars at the wavelength scale is sufficient to generate a high-quality vortex beam.
- Qinmiao Chen
- , Geyang Qu
- & Shumin Xiao
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Review Article |
Engineering colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals for quantum information processing
This Review highlights the current potential for colloidal quantum dots for applications in quantum sensing and quantum circuits.
- Jawaher Almutlaq
- , Yuan Liu
- & Edward H. Sargent
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Research Briefing |
Fabrication of mechanochromic gallium nanostructures by capillary interactions
A process that leverages capillary interactions between oligomers in an elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane substrate and deposited Ga enables the formation of Ga nanodroplets with nanoscale gaps in a single step. Gap-plasmon resonances excited within the nanogaps give rise to structural colours that can be tuned by changing the oligomer content in the substrate or by mechanical stretching.
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Article
| Open Access
Single-step fabrication of liquid gallium nanoparticles via capillary interaction for dynamic structural colours
Exploiting capillary interactions of oligomers in polydimethylsiloxane and Ga allows single-step formation of closely spaced Ga nanodroplets in which gap plasmon resonances lead to mechanoresponsive structural colours, bypassing multiple chemical or lithographic steps.
- Renu Raman Sahu
- , Alwar Samy Ramasamy
- & Tapajyoti Das Gupta
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News & Views |
An optical imager that can compute
An intelligent meta-imager can perform multi-channel convolutions to accelerate machine vision for incoherent light.
- Zheng Huang
- & Hongwei Chen
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Article |
Coherent electronic coupling in quantum dot solids induces cooperative enhancement of nonlinear optoelectronic responses
Synchronized dynamics of quantum dot ensembles are essential for the generation of giant optical responses. To this end, coherent electronic coupling in quantum dot solids induces cooperative enhancement of nonlinear optoelectronic responses.
- Hirokazu Tahara
- , Masanori Sakamoto
- & Yoshihiko Kanemitsu
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Valley-centre tandem perovskite light-emitting diodes
A hybrid valley-centre tandem optical structure that combines perovskites and organic light-emitting diodes is demonstrated to obtain an efficient emitting device, showing the commercial potential of perovskite displays.
- Hyeon-Dong Lee
- , Seung-Je Woo
- & Tae-Woo Lee
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Multidimensional detection enabled by twisted black arsenic–phosphorus homojunctions
Multidimensional optical information, including intensity, polarization and wavelength, can be simultaneously detected using double twisted black arsenic–phosphorus homojunctions.
- Fakun Wang
- , Song Zhu
- & Qi Jie Wang
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Article |
Spin coating epitaxial heterodimensional tin perovskites for light-emitting diodes
A one-step spin-coating approach to fabricate scalable epitaxial heterodimensional tin perovskite thin films results in near-infrared tin perovskite LEDs with a peak external quantum efficiency of 11.6%.
- Hao Min
- , Nana Wang
- & Jianpu Wang
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Article |
Multichannel meta-imagers for accelerating machine vision
A metasurface-based approach is used to implement computationally expensive digital convolution operations in high-speed, low-power optics for improving the latency and power consumption of machine vision systems.
- Hanyu Zheng
- , Quan Liu
- & Jason G. Valentine
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Article |
Large second-order susceptibility from a quantized indium tin oxide monolayer
An atomically thin indium tin oxide film in the form of a quantum well exhibits a χ2 of ~1,800 pm V–1. Theoretical calculations point to an asymmetric electronic interband transition resonance as the reason for this large χ2 value.
- Yiyun Zhang
- , Bingtao Gao
- & Haoliang Qian
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News & Views |
Light routing by nanoscale nonlinear interferometry with attosecond control
Directionality of nonlinear emission from a dielectric metasurface is controlled by fine-tuning the relative time delay and polarization of two pulsed pump beams.
- Gustavo Grinblat
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Article |
All-optical free-space routing of upconverted light by metasurfaces via nonlinear interferometry
The interference between two frequency-degenerate upconversion processes enables a metasurface-based, all-optical routing by controlling the phase delay between pump beams.
- Agostino Di Francescantonio
- , Attilio Zilli
- & Michele Celebrano
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Review Article |
Telecom-band quantum dot technologies for long-distance quantum networks
The Review discusses epitaxial quantum dot devices emitting in the telecom bands for quantum network devices.
- Ying Yu
- , Shunfa Liu
- & Jin Liu
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Article |
Reversible optical data storage below the diffraction limit
Resonant laser excitation is used to control the charge states of colour centre clusters in diamond with sub-diffraction resolution. These states are long-lived and can be read out non-destructively with low energy consumption.
- Richard Monge
- , Tom Delord
- & Carlos A. Meriles
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Research Briefing |
High optical nonlinear efficiency achieved by compensating for nanoscale inhomogeneity
Nanoscale inhomogeneity is a major barrier to achieving high nonlinear efficiency in nanophotonic lithium-niobate waveguides. Using adapted poling in the waveguide — to circumvent the inhomogeneity and restore ideal phase matching — is shown to break through this efficiency limit.
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Adapted poling to break the nonlinear efficiency limit in nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides
A major limiting factor for nonlinear efficiencies in lithium niobate waveguides, nanoscale thickness inhomogeneity, has been tackled using a fabrication approach called adapted poling.
- Pao-Kang Chen
- , Ian Briggs
- & Linran Fan
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Article |
Optical gain and lasing from bulk cadmium sulfide nanocrystals through bandgap renormalization
Solution-processable CdS ‘bulk’ nanocrystals show efficient on-chip lasing under quasi-continuous-wave conditions with excellent beam quality and pump thresholds.
- Ivo Tanghe
- , Margarita Samoli
- & Pieter Geiregat
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Article |
An integrated microwave-to-optics interface for scalable quantum computing
An integrated transducer based on a planar superconducting resonator coupled to a silicon photonic cavity through a mechanical oscillator made from lithium niobate achieves a transduction efficiency of 0.9%.
- Matthew J. Weaver
- , Pim Duivestein
- & Robert Stockill
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Review Article |
Light management for perovskite light-emitting diodes
This Review analyses the mechanisms of light extraction from perovskite light-emitting diodes and suggests new approaches towards ultrahigh electroluminescence efficiencies.
- Baodan Zhao
- , Maria Vasilopoulou
- & Dawei Di
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Article
| Open Access
Time-domain observation of ballistic orbital-angular-momentum currents with giant relaxation length in tungsten
The observation of orbital currents with extended propagation lengths remains challenging. Here, Seifert et al. optically trigger ultrafast orbital currents in Ni|W|SiO2 stacks that seemingly propagate ballistically with a giant decay length and low velocity.
- Tom S. Seifert
- , Dongwook Go
- & Tobias Kampfrath
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Article |
Ultrafast exciton fluid flow in an atomically thin MoS2 semiconductor
Evidence is provided for the formation of a collective state of short-lived excitons whose propagation resembles that of a classical liquid flows, with a speed reaching ~6% the speed of light.
- Andrés Granados del Águila
- , Yi Ren Wong
- & Qihua Xiong
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Coherent control of a high-orbital hole in a semiconductor quantum dot
Coherent manipulation of hole-orbital states in semiconductor quantum dots is achieved through stimulated Auger processes, opening doors to new types of orbital-based solid-state quantum photonic devices.
- Jun-Yong Yan
- , Chen Chen
- & Feng Liu
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Minimizing heat generation in quantum dot light-emitting diodes by increasing quasi-Fermi-level splitting
Quantum dot LED brightness can be enhanced at low driving voltage using a monolayer of large quantum dots to reduce the packing number in the emitting layer and minimize heat generation.
- Yan Gao
- , Bo Li
- & Zuliang Du
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Hybrid electronic–photonic sensors on a fibre tip
By controlling the current and measuring the voltage via the fibre, a hybrid electronic–photonic sensor consisting of a p–i–n junction located on the fibre-tip junction can be used as an electrical sensor with optical readout.
- L. Picelli
- , P. J. van Veldhoven
- & A. Fiore
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Review Article |
Exceptional points and non-Hermitian photonics at the nanoscale
This Review discusses the latest theoretical progress related to exceptional points in non-Hermitian physics and the associated implications for emerging technologies in nanophotonics.
- Aodong Li
- , Heng Wei
- & Lin Chen
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Berry curvature dipole generation and helicity-to-spin conversion at symmetry-mismatched heterointerfaces
The authors generate the Berry curvature dipole and valley-coupled spin photocurrent via interfacial symmetry engineering at the WSe2/SiP heterostructure, and can electrically tune such nonlinear optoelectronic phenomena via the gate bias.
- Siyu Duan
- , Feng Qin
- & Hongtao Yuan
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Article
| Open Access
An all-in-one nanoprinting approach for the synthesis of a nanofilm library for unclonable anti-counterfeiting applications
A laser printing approach generates physical unclonable fluorescent patterns, made from simple sugar. These environmentally friendly and ultraviolet-stable materials can be applied as anti-counterfeiting labels.
- Junfang Zhang
- , Yuxin Liu
- & Felix F. Loeffler
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Tunable phononic coupling in excitonic quantum emitters
Quantum emitters with strong and tunable coupling to breathing-mode phonons are observed in bilayer WSe2. The emission of each single photon heralds the creation of a phonon Fock state in the atomic-scale excitonic–optomechanical system.
- Adina Ripin
- , Ruoming Peng
- & Mo Li
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Leaky-wave metasurfaces for integrated photonics
Based on symmetry-breaking perturbations, leaky-wave metasurfaces with pointwise control of the amplitude, phase and polarization of surface emission offer a universal generalization of grating couplers for integrated photonics.
- Heqing Huang
- , Adam C. Overvig
- & Nanfang Yu
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Spin-dependent properties of optical modes guided by adiabatic trapping potentials in photonic Dirac metasurfaces
Photonic Dirac metasurfaces with smooth trapping potentials guide optical modes endowed with pseudo-spin. Such potentials give rise to different radiative properties of modes of opposite pseudo-spin.
- Svetlana Kiriushechkina
- , Anton Vakulenko
- & Alexander B. Khanikaev
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Anomalous thickness dependence of photoluminescence quantum yield in black phosphorous
Thickness-dependent photoluminescence quantum yield measurements in black phosphorus reveal a free-carrier to excitonic transition, differing from the behaviour of conventional semiconductors.
- Naoki Higashitarumizu
- , Shiekh Zia Uddin
- & Ali Javey
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Hyperbolic whispering-gallery phonon polaritons in boron nitride nanotubes
A Purcell factor as high as 1012 is measured in atomically smooth nanocavities of hexagonal boron nitride nanotubes.
- Xiangdong Guo
- , Ning Li
- & Qing Dai
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News & Views |
Twisted light gets a splash of colour
A technique that blends micro- and nanometre-scale printed elements has been used to sculpture white light into a spatial array of coloured twisted beams, demonstrating sophisticated photonic control even with common incoherent sources of light.
- Andrew Forbes
- & Leerin Perumal
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Coloured vortex beams with incoherent white light illumination
Optical elements fabricated with a 3D printing technique generate beams carrying orbital angular momentum under incoherent white light illumination.
- Hongtao Wang
- , Hao Wang
- & Joel K. W. Yang
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Far-field coupling between moiré photonic lattices
An ultralong-range coupling was demonstrated between photonic lattices in bilayer and multilayer moiré architectures, which is mediated by dark surface lattice resonances in the vertical direction.
- Jun Guan
- , Jingtian Hu
- & Teri W. Odom
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Electrically switchable anisotropic polariton propagation in a ferroelectric van der Waals semiconductor
In-plane anisotropic exciton-polariton propagation in SnSe enables nanoscale imaging of the in-plane ferroelectric domains
- Yue Luo
- , Nannan Mao
- & William L. Wilson
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Solving integral equations in free space with inverse-designed ultrathin optical metagratings
Metasurfaces can solve Fredholm integral equations of the second kind for free-space radiation at optical wavelengths. To this end, an inverse-designed metagrating is coupled to a semitransparent mirror providing feedback to perform an analogue version of the Neumann series.
- Andrea Cordaro
- , Brian Edwards
- & Albert Polman
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Real-space nanoimaging of hyperbolic shear polaritons in a monoclinic crystal
Scanning near-field optical microscopy measurements show that polaritonic nanophotonics is attainable in natural low-symmetry materials, leading to a general way to manipulate light at the nanoscale.
- Guangwei Hu
- , Weiliang Ma
- & Cheng-Wei Qiu
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Versatile full-colour nanopainting enabled by a pixelated plasmonic metasurface
A plasmonic metasurface for full-colour nanopainting simultaneously achieves a chiaroscuro presentation, wide-gamut palette, high saturation and dynamic colour tunability.
- Maowen Song
- , Lei Feng
- & Ting Xu
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News & Views |
Scalable optical levitation
A multi-beam optical tweezer scheme achieves levitation and cooling of two nanoparticles at the same time.
- P. F. Barker
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Scalable all-optical cold damping of levitated nanoparticles
Optical traps equipped with a feedback system allow simultaneously cooling the motion of two particles.
- Jayadev Vijayan
- , Zhao Zhang
- & Lukas Novotny
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Research Briefing |
Using quantum dots to produce a CMOS terahertz camera and polarimeter
Quantum dots can convert terahertz photons into visible light. This mechanism is used to develop a semiconductor-based room-temperature terahertz camera that can simultaneously record the field strength and polarization states of a terahertz beam. The proposed detector has fast speeds and can be manufactured at the wafer-scale.
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A room-temperature polarization-sensitive CMOS terahertz camera based on quantum-dot-enhanced terahertz-to-visible photon upconversion
A terahertz camera based on an upconversion mechanism to the visible range can image both THz polarization state and field strength.
- Jiaojian Shi
- , Daehan Yoo
- & Keith A. Nelson
Tuning light by the vibes