News & Views in 2007

The demonstration of a fingertip-sized optical vapour cell on a silicon chip could ultimately lead to compact devices capable of performing sophisticated optical-signal-processing tasks using only a few photons.

Photonics research in Japan is thriving and there is no better place to hear the latest news firsthand than the meetings of the Japan Society of Applied Physics. Nature Photonics decided to pay the 54th Spring Meeting a visit.

Comparing ultrastable optical frequency standards developed in different laboratories presents a significant challenge. However, a group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder has now demonstrated a prototype coherent ring network that rises to the test.

Breaking the diffraction limit for the resolution of conventional optical systems has long been the primary aim of optical imaging. The recently demonstrated far-field optical superlens is paving the way to this elusive goal.

Is the terahertz spectral range finally about to be opened up for broad application across the physical and biological sciences? Researchers propose a new source of terahertz waves that could do just this.

Eighteen months ago a massive fire ripped through the Optoelectronics Research Centre at Southampton University in the UK. Nadya Anscombe talks to David Payne about the lessons learned and the future of one of the world's largest photonics research groups.

Capturing images with a digital camera that has just a single pixel may sound implausible, but that's exactly what US researchers have achieved. Such devices may soon offer a memory-efficient alternative to conventional megapixel digital cameras.

Changing the polarization of tightly focused light could be important for future high-resolution imaging and data-storage applications. Researchers have now shown that a simple lens can do the task without the need for polarizers.

Cloaking devices for visible light come a step closer to reality by combining the modern form of a Roman technology with ideas from ancient Greece.

The optics field is booming, as reflected by the impressive turn out at Photonics West this year. The conference brought researchers and industry figures together to forge the latest light paths, and microelectromechanical systems technology featured strongly.

Optical technology is becoming smaller and smaller, and it doesn't get much smaller than nanophotonic devices and metamaterials. NANOMETA-2007 gave researchers the opportunity to gather together in the cold to discuss these hot topics.

Controlling light in optical systems quickly and easily is crucial for all-optical switching. An approach that does this by exploiting the condensation of gases in a porous structure could open up new avenues in the switching field.

Slow light has captured the imagination of physicists for over a decade. Although single light pulses have been slowed down in a variety of settings, a group at Rochester University has now managed to delay an entire image for the first time.

Despite two decades of work geared towards improving the nonlinear optical properties of organic molecules, practical organic light modulators have not yet reached the market in large numbers. New organic-inorganic hybrid approaches may revolutionize the field.

A Cambridge start-up company is opening a large manufacturing facility for organic electronic circuits. The news is expected to accelerate the deployment of electronic-paper displays.

Using quantum optics to process data could herald a new era of information technology. With the latest semiconductor source of photons, researchers are paving the way towards this enticing goal.