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The ability to make ever smaller and more sophisticated optical circuits for controlling light is now moving into a new dimension, below the wavelength of light.
Examples of structural phase changes abound in the natural world around us. But if we can exploit such changes on the nanoscale using light, new nanophotonics technology may be just around the corner.
Coating a semiconductor heterostructure post with a layer of gold enables electrical pumping of nano-sized lasers. This experimental result could dispel the common belief that metallic coatings are too lossy to make good reflectors for tiny emitters.
Optical methods to probe electric fields in organic transistors in situ during operation provide a deeper understanding of factors that limit carrier mobility in these devices.
Whether you are simulating a lens, an optical communications system or a car headlamp, optical software can help you reach the optimum design. Neil Savage takes a look at some of the latest packages on offer.
Semiconductor quantum dots that are engineered to have both fluorescent and paramagnetic properties offer great potential as biological probes for imaging cellular activity. However, before such probes can be used in vivo, several challenges need to be overcome.
Surface plasmons undergo ultrafast dynamics on the attosecond timescale. Probing these ultrabrief effects is notoriously difficult, but a new microscope could pave the way towards an understanding of these fields and, ultimately, control of them.