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Article
| Open AccessTurnkey locking of quantum-dot lasers directly grown on Si
A quantum-dot laser directly grown on silicon that is scalable, low cost with an intrinsic linewidth of 16 Hz when subject to feedback from a low-quality-factor external cavity is reported.
- Bozhang Dong
- , Yating Wan
- & John E. Bowers
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News & Views |
Reviving holographic photonic integration
Holographic waveguides using shallow etching of silicon-on-insulator waveguides makes designing integrated, preset optical vector matrix multiplication computationally tractable and commercially available.
- Daniel Brunner
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Article |
Observation of Landau levels and chiral edge states in photonic crystals through pseudomagnetic fields induced by synthetic strain
Strain-engineered pseudomagnetic fields realized in two-dimensional photonic crystals induce flat-band Landau levels at discrete energies as well as chiral edge states. The high density of states and high degeneracy of the flat bands has implications for both on-chip and radiating light fields.
- René Barczyk
- , L. Kuipers
- & Ewold Verhagen
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Direct observation of Landau levels in silicon photonic crystals
Photonic Landau levels are demonstrated via a strain-induced pseudomagnetic field in a silicon photonic crystal slab.
- Maria Barsukova
- , Fabien Grisé
- & Mikael C. Rechtsman
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Article
| Open AccessNon-reciprocal band structures in an exciton–polariton Floquet optical lattice
A frequency detuning between two pump lasers enables an exciton–polariton Floquet optical lattice and a polariton ‘conveyor belt’. The findings pave the way for Floquet engineering in polariton condensates.
- Yago del Valle Inclan Redondo
- , Xingran Xu
- & Michael D. Fraser
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Article
| Open AccessElectrochemically controlled blinking of fluorophores for quantitative STORM imaging
Electrochemical control of the switching of fluorophores in stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (EC-STORM) enables the counting of single fluorophores as well as cell imaging with improved spatial resolution and reduced artefacts compared with traditional STORM.
- Ying Yang
- , Yuanqing Ma
- & J. Justin Gooding
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Article
| Open AccessRandom-access wide-field mesoscopy for centimetre-scale imaging of biodynamics with subcellular resolution
Random-access wide-field mesoscopy enables the imaging of in vivo biodynamics in mice over an area of 160 mm2 and at a subcellular spatial resolution of about 2 μm.
- Ruheng Shi
- , Xinyue Chen
- & Lingjie Kong
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Article |
Mid-infrared wide-field nanoscopy
Wide-field mid-infrared photothermal imaging is developed to supress the resolution degradation caused by photo-thermal heat diffusion. By employing a single-objective synthetic-aperture imaging with synchronized subnanosecond mid-infrared and visible light sources, spatial resolution of 120 nm is obtained.
- Miu Tamamitsu
- , Keiichiro Toda
- & Takuro Ideguchi
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Article |
Experimental demonstration of attosecond pump–probe spectroscopy with an X-ray free-electron laser
Researchers have demonstrated the generation and control of subfemtosecond pulse pairs from a two-colour X-ray free-electron laser and conducted pump–probe experiments in core-ionized molecules.
- Zhaoheng Guo
- , Taran Driver
- & Agostino Marinelli
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Review Article |
Nonreciprocal thermal photonics
This Review discusses the physics of nonreciprocal radiation and Kirchhoff’s law generalization in the context of nanophotonics-enabled nonreciprocal thermal applications.
- Shuihua Yang
- , Mengqi Liu
- & Cheng-Wei Qiu
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Article |
Epsilon-near-zero regime enables permanent ultrafast all-optical reversal of ferroelectric polarization
Researchers reveal that naturally emerging epsilon-near-zero conditions in BaTiO3 can be exploited to drive permanent all-optical switching of ferroelectric polarization. The general nature of the epsilon-near-zero regime means that the approach could be used to switch spontaneous order parameters in other systems.
- M. Kwaaitaal
- , D. G. Lourens
- & A. Kirilyuk
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Article |
Avalanche photodiode with ultrahigh gain–bandwidth product of 1,033 GHz
Researchers demonstrate a germanium/silicon avalanche photodiode gain–bandwidth product over 1 THz operating at 1,550 nm wavelength. The findings have implications for future high-speed optoelectronic devices in next-generation optical interconnects.
- Yang Shi
- , Xiang Li
- & Xinliang Zhang
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News & Views |
Cryogenic optical data link for superconducting circuits
An optical fibre-fed superconducting electro-optic modulator with gigahertz bandwidth and attojoule per bit electric power consumption offers a fast, efficient means to connect superconducting circuits to the room temperature environment.
- Paolo Pintus
- , Mo Soltani
- & Galan Moody
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News & Views |
Single protein imaging with holography
A non-common-path interferometric scheme enables holographic detection of single proteins of mass 90 kDa and estimation of single-protein polarizability.
- Chia-Lung Hsieh
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News & Views |
Optical manipulation of spin resonance in gallium nitride
A common direct-bandgap semiconductor has been found to host optically addressable spins, opening the door to scalable quantum sensor manufacturing.
- Jake Horder
- & Igor Aharonovich
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News & Views |
Illuminating cancer with sonoafterglow
Ultrasound-induced luminescence in trianthracene derivative-based nanoparticles enables tumour imaging and immunological profiling in a variety of in vivo models.
- Cheng Xu
- & Kanyi Pu
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Article
| Open AccessMultiplication of the orbital angular momentum of phonon polaritons via sublinear dispersion
The strong dispersion of surface phonon polaritons in silicon carbide films is exploited to tailor the orbital angular momentum of phonon polaritons, achieving reconfigurable polaritonic optical vortices that are attractive for orbital-angular-momentum-enabled light–matter interactions at mid-infrared frequencies.
- Andrea Mancini
- , Lin Nan
- & Stefan A. Maier
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Integrated optical vortex microcomb
Microring-based vortex combs with each comb line carrying a distinct orbital angular momentum generate light springs with time-varying orbital angular momenta.
- Bo Chen
- , Yueguang Zhou
- & Jin Liu
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Integrated vortex soliton microcombs
Nonlinear microring resonators can generate a vortex soliton microcomb, that is, a frequency comb with each comb line carrying a distinct orbital angular momentum.
- Yanwu Liu
- , Chenghao Lao
- & Qi-Fan Yang
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Article
| Open AccessA versatile single-photon-based quantum computing platform
A versatile cloud-accessible single-photon-based quantum computing machine is developed, which shows a six-photon sampling rate of 4 Hz over weeks. Heralded generation of a three-photon Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state—a key milestone toward measurement-based quantum computing—is implemented.
- Nicolas Maring
- , Andreas Fyrillas
- & Niccolo Somaschi
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Review Article |
Chiral materials and mechanisms for circularly polarized light-emitting diodes
Chiral materials and related mechanisms are reviewed, with a focus on applications for circularly polarized light-emitting diodes.
- Francesco Furlan
- , Juan Manuel Moreno-Naranjo
- & Matthew J. Fuchter
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Article |
Extreme focusing of hard X-ray free-electron laser pulses enables 7 nm focus width and 1022 W cm−2 intensity
Researchers focused hard X-rays from a free-electron laser down to transverse dimensions of ~7 nm × 7 nm, enabling a two-order increase in intensity of photons and yielding access to the elusive 1022 W cm−2 regime. Such intense, short-wavelength electromagnetic radiation may probe atomic, molecular and optical physics with extremely high resolution.
- Jumpei Yamada
- , Satoshi Matsuyama
- & Kazuto Yamauchi
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Article
| Open AccessUltrafast atomic-scale scanning tunnelling spectroscopy of a single vacancy in a monolayer crystal
Time-resolved lightwave-driven scanning tunnelling spectroscopy is developed to investigate how the spin–orbit-split energy levels of a selenium vacancy within a WSe2 monolayer shift under phonon displacement. Ultrafast snapshots of the electronic tunnelling spectra reveal transient energy shifts up to 40 meV.
- C. Roelcke
- , L. Z. Kastner
- & Y. A. Gerasimenko
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Article |
Parametrically driven pure-Kerr temporal solitons in a chip-integrated microcavity
Kerr resonators can support a new form of parametrically driven temporal cavity soliton (and associated optical frequency comb), with potential performance advantages that include background-free operation and the possibility of very high pump-to-comb conversion efficiencies.
- Grégory Moille
- , Miriam Leonhardt
- & Miro Erkintalo
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Article
| Open AccessSingle-protein optical holography
Holographic microscopy with independent control of the signal and reference fields enables the holographic imaging of a single protein with mass below 100 kDa and estimation of their polarizability.
- Jan Christoph Thiele
- , Emanuel Pfitzner
- & Philipp Kukura
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News & Views |
On-chip coherent terahertz emitters with gigahertz modulation
The frequency of coherent terahertz waves radiated from a single superconducting emitter can be electronically modulated on a chip with up to 40 GHz bandwidth, paving the way for high-data-rate and ultrafast terahertz wireless communications.
- Kaveh Delfanazari
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Meeting Report |
Quantum meets nanophotonics
Metasurfaces bring miniaturization and new avenues for the generation, manipulation and measurement of quantum light.
- David Pile
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News & Views |
Mechanical anisotropy with Brillouin spectroscopy in one shot
Brillouin light scattering anisotropy microscopy affords single-shot collection of angle-resolved phonon dispersion, enabling the mapping of mechanical anisotropies in living matter with a frequency resolution of 10 MHz and a spatial resolution of 2 µm.
- Yogeshwari S. Ambekar
- & Giuliano Scarcelli
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News & Views |
On-chip lasers with twisted light
A photonic equivalent to disclination in crystals has been used to produce orbital angular momentum laser light directly on-chip, ushering in compact and efficient twisted-light lasers.
- Andrew Forbes
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Review Article |
In vivo NIR-II fluorescence imaging for biology and medicine
A review of NIR-II fluorescence imaging is presented, with a focus on fluorophores, probes and imaging techniques.
- Feifei Wang
- , Yeteng Zhong
- & Hongjie Dai
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Article |
Laser-driven broadband near-infrared light source with watt-level output
A transparent ceramic phosphor based on Cr3+-doped MgO offers a route to a powerful broadband near-infrared light source.
- Gaochao Liu
- , Weibin Chen
- & Zhiguo Xia
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Article
| Open AccessDirect linearly polarized electroluminescence from perovskite nanoplatelet superlattices
Self-assembled perovskite nanoplatelets emit linearly polarized light, enabling the realization of red perovskite light-emitting diodes with a 74.4% degree of linear polarization.
- Junzhi Ye
- , Aobo Ren
- & Robert L. Z. Hoye
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Article |
Inverse-designed low-index-contrast structures on a silicon photonics platform for vector–matrix multiplication
Using inverse design, a 3D silicon photonics platform that can be used for the mathematical operation of vector–matrix multiplication with light is demonstrated, potentially enabling large-scale wave-based analogue computing.
- Vahid Nikkhah
- , Ali Pirmoradi
- & Nader Engheta
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Article |
In vivo ultrasound-induced luminescence molecular imaging
Ultrasound-induced luminescence enables in vivo molecular imaging of tumours and lymph nodes with spatial resolution of 1.46 mm.
- Youjuan Wang
- , Zhigao Yi
- & Weihong Tan
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Article |
Size-dependent lanthanide energy transfer amplifies upconversion luminescence quantum yields
Researchers demonstrate a size-dependent lanthanide energy transfer effect in upconversion nanoparticles with depleted surface quenching, resulting in upconversion quantum yields of 13.0 ± 1.3%.
- Feng Li
- , Langping Tu
- & Guanying Chen
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Article
| Open AccessKey requirements for ultraefficient sensitization in hyperfluorescence organic light-emitting diodes
Moderately efficient TADF emitters can play the role of surprisingly good sensitizers in hyperfluorescent blue organic light-emitting diodes.
- Kleitos Stavrou
- , Larissa G. Franca
- & Andrew P. Monkman
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Charge trapping for controllable persistent luminescence in organics
Tunable afterglow emission in the visible region is enabled by trap-induced persistent luminescence in organic host–guest materials, with controllable trap depths.
- Cunjian Lin
- , Zishuang Wu
- & Rong-Jun Xie
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Article
| Open AccessAttosecond electron microscopy by free-electron homodyne detection
Free-electron homodyne detection allows measuring phase-resolved optical responses in electron microscopy, demonstrated in the imaging of plasmonic fields with few-nanometre spatial and sub-cycle temporal resolutions.
- John H. Gaida
- , Hugo Lourenço-Martins
- & Claus Ropers
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Article |
A conformal mapping approach to broadband nonlinear optics on chip
Conformal transformation optics is exploited to design curved accelerating waveguides with spatially gradient curvatures to boost the nonlinear efficiency and broaden the bandwidth of the nonlinear optical processes in the waveguides.
- Chunyu Huang
- , Yu Luo
- & Hui Liu
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Article |
Efficient and stable perovskite solar cells with regulated depletion region
Controlling the doping depth in perovskites allows the creation of a depletion region that inhibits the migration of iodide ions under illumination. Solar cells exhibit a power conversion efficiency of 24.6% and maintain 88% of the initial efficiency after 1,900 h of continuous operation.
- Zhichao Shen
- , Qifeng Han
- & Liyuan Han
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Article |
Polariton spin Hall effect in a Rashba–Dresselhaus regime at room temperature
Improved generation and manipulation of pure polariton spin transport over distances of tens of micrometres is a step towards spintronic applications.
- Jie Liang
- , Wen Wen
- & Rui Su
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Article
| Open AccessSilicon photonics-based high-energy passively Q-switched laser
An integrated high-energy laser that combines a passively Q-switched laser cavity based on a silicon-nitride photonic integrated circuit with an optically pumped gain layer consisting of thulium-doped alumina is reported, representing a pivotal advancement in integrated pulsed lasers.
- Neetesh Singh
- , Jan Lorenzen
- & Franz X. Kärtner
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Super-resolved FRET and co-tracking in pMINFLUX
Super-resolution pMINFLUX microscopy is combined with FRET and enables co-tracking of two fluorophores without photoswitching.
- Fiona Cole
- , Jonas Zähringer
- & Philip Tinnefeld
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News & Views |
A bit of gain, electrically injected
Electrical excitation of a perovskite light-emitting diode is shown to contribute to optical gain, a milestone on the path towards a non-epitaxial laser diode.
- Barry P. Rand
- & Noel C. Giebink
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News & Views |
Brighter organic scintillators by hot exciton manipulation
The fast response and efficiency of plastic scintillators are severely degraded by the preferential population of slow triplet excited states in luminescence centres, such as in dye molecules. This issue can be solved by hot exciton manipulation, which avoids population of the lowest triplet state.
- Martin Nikl
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News & Views |
The dawn of chimera optical resonators
Nonlinear optical resonators allow the coherent conversion of photons, yet fabrication tolerances limit their wavelength accuracy. Introducing periodic modulation in ring resonators is shown to allow robust and predictable selection of the converted photons.
- Alfredo De Rossi
- & Sylvain Combrié
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Phase dimensions resolving of efficient and stable perovskite light-emitting diodes at high brightness
A chemical washing method called solvent sieve is developed to resolve the phase dimension issue of metal halide perovskites. The sieved perovskites demonstrate a record external quantum efficiency of 29.5% and a T50 lifetime of 18.67 h at 12,000 cd m−2; 80% of the device external quantum efficiency lasts for 100 days in the ambient.
- Shuo Ding
- , Qiangqiang Wang
- & Chaoyu Xiang
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Article
| Open AccessA high-efficiency programmable modulator for extreme ultraviolet light with nanometre feature size based on an electronic phase transition
A reflective spatial light modulator for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or soft X-ray light is demonstrated in an electronic Wigner crystal material with a sub-90-nm feature size. The diffraction grating imprinted by sub-picosecond EUV beams is rewritable. The projected efficiency according to the modelling exceeds 1%.
- Igor Vaskivskyi
- , Anze Mraz
- & Dragan Mihailovic