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Frequency combs are created by stabilizing the evolution of the carrier–envelope phase of a mode-locked laser. Researchers have now demonstrated a simplified method of creating frequency combs that enables trains of identical pulses to be easily produced.
High-performance, ultracompact lenses are needed in the quest to miniaturize optical systems. It now seems that carefully engineered subwavelength gratings can function as almost perfect mirrors with custom-designed focusing properties.
Europe has always been a hub of innovation for photonics, and this year's Photonics Europe conference has shown that young inventors are still coming up with great ideas for commercialization.
Packets of light persisting in a continuously driven nonlinear resonator in the time domain offer new possibilities not only for applications in all-optical storage, pulse reshaping and wavelength conversion, but also for fundamental experiments in nonlinear science.
A composite photonic crystal that allows on-chip control over the emission direction of a semiconductor laser diode looks set to benefit mobile projection displays, lasers printers and chip-to-chip optical communication.
An optical technique that allows the coherence of electron spin inside a quantum dot to be manipulated over microsecond timescales may have important applications in quantum information processing.
The demonstration of a microcavity polariton switch and logic gate that can be controlled by the polarization state of light suggests that a new class of integrated optical devices with highly efficient, ultrafast operation and small footprints may soon be within reach.
The aberrations induced by strongly scattering and turbid samples make optical trapping in such media impossible. Now, researchers in Scotland have overcome the problem using in situ aberration correction.
Entangled photon pairs are the key enablers of quantum communications protocols. Researchers at Northwestern University in the USA have now created a convenient and efficient all-fibre source of entangled photon pairs that is promising for standard telecommunications networks.
The experimental demonstration of polariton lasing from an organic optical microcavity is an important step towards the development of practical devices that exploit coupled states of light and matter and operate at room temperature.
A scheme for polishing glass to an angstrom-scale surface quality and an all-optical pH measurement technique were just two of the elegant ideas presented at this year's spring meeting of the Japan Society of Applied Physics.
The optics of disordered materials is rich and full of surprises. Researchers have now found a new form of stochastic resonance in which an image beam is resonantly amplified by noise.
The demonstration of a Yagi–Uda nano-antenna that operates at visible wavelengths gives hope for a convenient means of directing radiation patterns from nanoscale light sources such as single molecules and quantum dots.
