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The use of a fabrication scheme for controlling the symmetry, uniformity and location of quantum dots has resulted in a superior source of entangled photon pairs.
A new femtosecond fibre laser design combines two distinct regimes of nonlinear dynamic attraction within a single cavity to yield robust and low-noise performance.
The demonstration of a 'mirrorless' ultralong Raman fibre laser that provides stable, spatially incoherent continuous-wave lasing may prove to be an important new light source for applications in nonlinear optics, sensing and telecommunications.
Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification is a promising approach for amplifying few-cycle laser pulses to unprecedented powers. However, the future success of the scheme depends on the availability of suitable pump sources.
By utilizing the spatial quantum correlations of light, Italian researchers have now performed imaging at significantly higher signal-to-noise ratios than those possible through classical techniques.
The emission of visible light from a dye encapsulated within a carbon nanotube gives great hope and new opportunities for the design of nanoscale optoelectronic devices.
The demonstration of coherent storage and retrieval of subnanosecond light pulses in an atomic vapour opens the door to optical quantum memories with gigahertz bandwidths.
On-demand single-photon sources with high efficiency are required to realize many of the applications of quantum optics. By exploiting photonic mode transformation in a tapered nanowire, researchers have created a source that has an unprecedented extraction efficiency over an extremely broad spectral range.
The use of a specially designed cavity to enhance the intensity of femtosecond ultraviolet pulses dramatically increases the rate at which non-classical states of light can be produced.
Ferroelectrics may have a bright future for solar-energy generation, following the report that the domain walls of such materials can be engineered to exhibit a photovoltaic effect with an impressively high voltage output.
Optical loss degrades quantum correlations, hindering the use of quantum quadrature entanglement for many applications. Researchers have now experimentally demonstrated that this entanglement can be recovered using photon subtraction.
The optical Kerr effect is a well-known phenomenon in which an electric field creates birefringence in a material. Researchers have now demonstrated this effect using single-cycle terahertz pulses — instead of optical pulses — in a variety of liquids.
Researchers from Princeton and Northwestern Universities have independently demonstrated, through different design strategies, mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers with wall-plug efficiencies reaching 50%. The result is a quantum cascade laser so efficient that it generates more light than heat, albeit at low temperatures of operation.
Surface plasmons hold great promise for on-chip miniaturization of all-optical circuits, but practical methods of switching them are needed. Researchers have now demonstrated strong — and potentially fast — modulation of plasmons using a magnet.
