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Electronic implants have been used to restore visual function lost as a result of retinal degeneration. Combining subretinal high-pixel-density arrays with optically powered serial photovoltaic sensors may alleviate some of the difficulties associated with today's devices, which rely on implanted arrays and inductive coils.
The full quantum description of an optical detector not only reveals how it operates at the most fundamental level but also promises new opportunities in quantum information processing.
Recent research shows that quantum-mechanical tunnelling through individual semiconductor quantum dots can be promoted or inhibited using a low-intensity focused laser beam. This phenomenon may be useful for low-level light detection or quantum information applications.
Controlling the velocity of neutral particles is an experimental challenge, owing to their absence of charge. Scientists have now demonstrated a technique that can be used to accelerate neutral argon atoms by polarizing them in moving optical lattices.
Interrogation schemes based on quantum physics look set to push the data-handling capabilities of optical communication channels to new levels of performance.
Quantum plasmonics, Fano resonances, surface plasmon–polariton Airy beams and plasmon-enhanced Raman spectroscopy are some of the new aspects of plasmonics that are now being explored.
Scientists have shown that wrinkles and folds can be used to maximize the absorption of low-energy photons by efficiently redirecting them into a thin absorbing film. This inexpensive technique for structuring photonic substrates could be used to increase the efficiency of many organic photovoltaic cells.
Laser-based particle acceleration offers a way to reduce the size of hard-X-ray sources. Scientists have now developed a simple scheme that produces a bright flash of hard X-rays by using a single laser pulse both to generate and to scatter an electron beam.
The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology was established in Saudi Arabia in 2009. Nature Photonics recently visited the campus to see how things are shaping up.
Using stimulated Brillouin scattering to achieve extremely high optical gain in silicon nanostructures may allow the realization of new integrated chip-scale photonic devices.
Scientists have shown that embedding strips of metal in an organic optical resonator allows its emission properties to be tuned while maintaining coherence.
Scientists have demonstrated an efficient process for generating multiple excitons in adjacent silicon nanocrystals from a single high-energy photon. Their findings could prove useful for a wide range of photovoltaic applications.
Scientists gathered at the spring meeting of the Japan Society of Applied Physics to discuss quantum devices based on silicon and diamond, imaging using the X-ray Berry-phase effect and terahertz near-field microscopy.
Fibre lasers capable of producing stable, axially symmetric ring-like radiation from an extended surface may prove to be an important new light source for applications in medical imaging, sensing, bio-sensing and security systems.
