Browse Articles

To bridge the ultrafast and slow classes of quantum-information-processing systems, a Fresnel time lens is developed by using a wideband electro-optic phase modulator combined with a dispersion element. The single-photon spectral bandwidth is compressed from picosecond to nanosecond timescales.

Propagators of single photons based on directly measuring quantum wave functions are experimentally observed. Classical trajectories that satisfy the principle of least action are successfully extracted in the case of free space and harmonic potential.

Progress in high-performance tandem solar cells and quantum cascade laser light sources were highlights of the Japan Society of Applied Physics Spring Meeting.

Detection of gas radionuclides is limited in sensitivity with present methods, but may be useful in energy, security, medical and other sectors. In this work, gas-concentrating porous scintillating metal–organic frameworks are demonstrated for gas radionuclide detection.

We demonstrate an avalanche photodiode design using photon-trapping structures to enhance the quantum efficiency and minimizing the absorber thickness, yielding high quantum efficiency, suppressed dark current density and bandwidth of ~7 GHz.

We show perovskite X-ray detection at zero-voltage bias with operational device stability exceeding one year. Detection efficiency of 88% and noise-equivalent dose of 90 pGyair are obtained with 18 keV X-rays, allowing single-photon-sensitive, low-dose and energy-resolved X-ray imaging.

The study of a light‒matter fluid of exciton–polaritons confirms the role of an inverse energy cascade in two-dimensional quantum turbulence.

Exceptionally high secret key generation rates of 64 Mbits^–1 and 115.8 Mbits^–1 over a 10 km optical fibre link have been achieved, thanks to custom-built 14-pixel and 16-pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, respectively, and the use of fast quantum key distribution transmitters.

Topological photonics has promised new devices that are resistant to backscattering, leading to lower loss, greater nonlinearity, and smaller footprint. New research shows that in reciprocal photonic crystals, backscattering is unavoidable, implying that breaking reciprocity is essential to leveraging photonic Chern insulators.

Spatial light modulator-based lithography-free programmable light transmission through optical gain medium is demonstrated for optical switching and a rudimentary photonic neural network.

Researchers engineer double-tapered optical-fibre arrays and use perovskite nanocrystal substrates for X-ray imaging with a three orders of magnitude output gain and spatial resolution of 22 lp mm⁻¹. Arrayed gamma-ray imaging is also demonstrated using a nanocrystal scintillator film.

Multiple scattering from birefringent nanospheres confers brilliant whiteness to parts of the Pacific cleaner shrimp, inspiring new ways to achieve broadband reflection with thin layers of material.

The strong birefringence of liquid crystalline nanospheres in the body of the Pacific cleaner shrimp enables brilliant whiteness by overcoming undesirable optical crowding effects.

A passively mode-locked quantum cascade laser (QCL) is developed by employing a heterogeneous gain medium and integrating graphene saturable absorbers along the entire QCL waveguide. Self-starting optical pulses of 4.0 ps are electrically generated in the 2.30–3.55 THz frequency range.

The dipole-dependent propagation of hybrid excitons in a van der Waals heterostructure containing a WSe₂ bilayer is characterized by modulating the layer hybridization and interplay between many-body interactions of excitons with an applied vertical electric field.

Joint force measurements with entangled optical probes on two optomechanical sensors are demonstrated. The force sensitivity is improved by 40% in the shot-noise-dominant regime. The sensing bandwidth is improved by 20% in the thermal noise limit.

Ultrathin 10.2-nm-thick (~λ/30,000) Ti₃C₂T_x MXene assemblies that offer an absorption of 49.2%, which is close to the theoretical limit of 50%, in the range of 0.5–10 THz are reported, benefiting terahertz optoelectronic and photothermoelectric devices.