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Increasing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and become more environmentally friendly is creating a myriad of opportunities for photonic technologies.
Nadya Anscombe talks to Stephen Eglash of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University in the USA about his vision for the green photonics sector.
Andrei Faraon from Hewlett-Packard describes how he and his colleagues achieved an eightfold enhancement to the zero-phonon emission from single nitrogen–vacancy centres in diamond.
Using a tapered two-wire transmission line, researchers experimentally focus mid-infrared energy to a nanoscale confined spot with a diameter of 60 nm at the taper apex.
Researchers cancel out the Dick effect through a synchronous frequency comparison between two optical lattice clocks based on 87Sr and 88Sr atoms. This scheme achieves an Allan standard deviation of around 10−17, which represents a significant advantage when using a large number (2,000) of atoms in an optical clock.
By controlling the group velocity dispersion of a microresonator through proper shape design, scientists generate a comb whose central frequency can be tuned throughout the transparency window of the microresonator host material.
Researchers demonstrate continuous-wave lasing from a quantum dot photonic crystal nanocavity at temperatures of up to 150 K. The achieved lasing thresholds of 181 nA (at 50 K) and 287 nA (at 150 K) are record-lows for any type of electrically pumped laser.
Scientists couple the zero-phonon line of individual nitrogen-vacancy centres to the modes of microring resonators fabricated in single-crystal diamond using standard semiconductor techniques, paving ways towards integrated diamond photonics.
Researchers demonstrate a terahertz quantum cascade laser operating in a regime of active mode-locking by modulating its bias current with a radiofrequency synthesizer. This technique allows coherent sampling of the terahertz electric field as well as control over the laser's carrier–envelope phase shift.
Absorption is often dismissed as a dull phenomenon over which we have little control. Researchers have now used a combination of absorption and interference effects to not only control but also drastically enhance the absorption process.
A new asynchronous coherent optical sampling method allows for the direct visualization of actively mode-locked quantum cascade laser pulses at terahertz wavelengths.
Researchers have significantly enhanced the single-photon emission of atomic defects in single-crystal diamond by coupling the photons to microring resonators — a technique that may represent a powerful addition to the integrated quantum photonics toolkit.
A spheroidal shape of microresonator avoids the traditional wavelength limitations imposed by the resonator material in the generation of microresonator-based optical frequency combs.
Oxford Photovoltaics is the newest contender in the race to commercialize dye-sensitized solar cells. Nadya Anscombe finds out what makes this company think it can succeed.
Scaling IT infrastructure from microscale processors to macroscale data centres and telecommunications networks requires high-bandwidth technologies that are cheap, low-power and small. Silicon photonics that utilizes scalable CMOS technology may offer a highly integrated photonics transmission platform for such applications.
A growing body of medical evidence suggests that disrupting the body's biological clock can have adverse effects on health. Researchers are now creating the photonic tools to monitor, predict and influence the circadian rhythm.