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Xiang Zhang and colleagues from the University of California, Berkeley, propose a new approach for confining light on scales much smaller than the wavelength of light. Using hybrid waveguides that incorporate dielectric and plasmonic waveguiding techniques, they are able to confine surface plasmon polaritons very strongly over large distances. The advance could lead to truly nanoscale plasmonics and photonics.
Before the practical implementation of quantum information schemes, there is a need to reduce loss, both in terms of photons and the information they carry. A robust scheme now experimentally demonstrated tackles this problem using so-called decoherence-free subspace.
Extracting light from organic LEDs is difficult owing to the refractive index of the materials used, and the output efficiency is typically limited to around 15–20%. By embedding a grid with a low refractive index into the organic layers and using a microlens array researchers have now managed to increase this figure to 34%, representing an improvement by factor of 2.3 over a conventional device.
Photonics research features heavily in the 2008 Prince of Asturias Awards, where its role in benefiting the environment and combating poverty is celebrated.
A tiny GeSi electro-absorption modulator with energy consumption at the femtojoule-per-bit level represents a step towards bringing photonics ever closer to computer chips.
The ability of a customized avalanche-photodiode detector to distinguish the exact number of photons that it receives will simplify the tools required to perform reliable experiments in quantum optics.
Combining optical and X-ray lasers enables imaging with high temporal and spectral resolution. By taking pictures of a succession of exploding targets, a movie can be made charting the dynamics of the solid material on a 10-ps timescale.
Gravity waves, event horizons and the interplay between light and fluids are just a few of the topics that were touched on at the CLEO/QELS Conference in the USA in May. Nature Photonics reports.
Conventional optical technologies store data on the surface of a recording medium. Two-photon technology, which relies on overlapping light beams, can be used for three-dimensional multilayer storage and promises capacities of up to 10 Tbyte on a DVD-size disk.
A chain of nanorods with weakly damped plasmon resonances is able to perform far-field colour imaging with subwavelength resolution, according to theoretical simulations.
Over the past 20 years photodynamic therapy, a cell-killing technique where a photosensitizing drug is activated by carefully targeted visible light, has led to new therapies for cancer and other diseases. In doing so it has won support from scientists, clinicians and patients alike.
Random lasers do not have mirrors or optical elements. They often lack a well-defined shape or size, and their emission wavelength is difficult to tune. Now it is shown that the optical resonances in an ensemble of microspheres can provide the crucial element of control.
