Solar cells

Given that an article can't be published until any artwork issues are resolved, it makes sense to get it right first time and avoid delays.

The ability of pulsed near-infrared laser light to pace the heart beat of a quail embryo is demonstrated, suggesting that such optical pacing may become a useful tool for developmental cardiology.

An ‘all-optical’ technique is proposed that can be used to detect broadband terahertz waves by coherently manipulating fluorescence emission from a gas plasma. This technique can be used to measure terahertz pulses at a distance of 10 m with unlimited directionality, even in the presence of water vapour absorption.

Truly remote, independent InGaAs quantum dots are tuned to the same energy using large applied electric fields of up to −500 kV cm⁻¹. This allows for two-photon interference of their emission under coincidence gating, and opens up the possibility of transferring quantum information between remote solid-state sources.

The phase locking of a longitudinal mode of a 2.7 THz quantum cascade laser was achieved using the spectral bandwidth of a mode-locked erbium-doped fibre laser. This technique is applicable to any terahertz quantum cascade laser source, and is an ideal tool for controlling the phase of different quantum cascade lasers.

The Linac Coherent Light Source free-electron laser has now achieved coherent X-ray generation down to a wavelength of 1.2 Å and at a brightness that is nearly ten orders of magnitude higher than conventional synchrotrons. Researchers detail the first operation and beam characteristics of the system, which give hope for imaging at atomic spatial and temporal scales.

Advanced on-chip photonic networks require integrated nanoscale lasers with low power consumption. Researchers have now demonstrated high-speed modulation of a compact heterostructure photonic crystal laser at room temperature with an unprecedented low required energy of ∼13 fJ per bit transmitted.

Non-Gaussian continuous variable operations are demonstrated for the first time at telecommunications wavelengths. Squeezed states were generated using a titanium superconducting sensor that can resolve the incident photon number. Reconstructed Wigner functions of the generated quantum states indicated non-Gaussian operation.

Photonic crystal nanocavities can strongly enhance the interaction between light and matter. Researchers have now demonstrated high-speed signal generation and all-optical switching with energies in the femtojoule and sub-femtojoule regime.

Using a clever design of polarization optic, Italian researchers have successfully created four-level 'ququart' quantum states using the polarization and orbital angular momentum of single photons. This approach may help to realize more effective forms of quantum communication.

An infrared laser pacemaker that can optically synchronize the beat of an embryonic heart shows great promise for developmental biology, and perhaps ultimately for use as a pacemaker in humans.

The Linac Coherent Light Source at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in the USA is producing coherent soft and hard X-rays at a brightness nearly ten orders of magnitude larger than synchrotron sources, heralding a new era in ultrafast science.

The study of dissipative solitons is not only increasing our understanding of nonlinear systems but may also help develop high-performance short-pulse lasers and devices for optical information processing.

The concentrator photovoltaics market is becoming increasingly crowded. Nadya Anscombe finds out what makes German company Concentrix Solar stand out from the crowd.

Sphelar solar-cell technology uses an array of tiny spheres of silicon within a transparent matrix to generate power, promising new opportunities for the use of solar cells in power-generating windows and portable, foldable power supplies.

Quantum-dot-based solar cells promise to deliver efficiencies approaching those of crystalline solar cells but with the manufacturing simplicity of organics.

Belgian research institute imec is uniquely capable of manufacturing both polymer and small-molecule organic photovoltaic technology.Nadya Anscombetalks to Tom Aernouts, team leader of the organic photovoltaic division at imec, about these competing technologies.

A scheme for the remote sensing of terahertz waves over distances of tens of metres could have important applications in security and biology. Xi-Cheng Zhang from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute spoke toNature Photonicsabout his group's latest work in this field.