News & Comment

A sensor based on an array of piezoelectric ZnO nanowires on a light-emitting GaN substrate can generate high-resolution images of pressure distributions. Zhong Lin Wang tells Nature Photonics that it could lead to superior touch interfaces for electronic devices.

Stéphane Coen and Miro Erkintalo from the University of Auckland in New Zealand talk to Nature Photonics about their surprising findings regarding a weak long-range interaction they serendipitously stumbled upon while researching temporal cavity solitons.

A laser with a record low energy cost has now been demonstrated by using a laser cavity based on photonic crystals. Shinji Matsuo of NTT Photonics Laboratories in Japan talked to Nature Photonics about its significance.

Magnets are often electrically activated, but recent research has demonstrated various schemes that can control magnetization using light and photocarriers. Nature Photonics spoke to Petr Němec and Tomas Jungwirth about their recent work on a polarization-independent optical-torque approach.

Although there is much debate regarding whether graphene is more suitable than metals for use in plasmonics, the useful operational frequency ranges of these materials are complementary. Nature Photonics spoke with Fengnian Xia about his team's recent work on graphene plasmonics.

Complete quantum control of an electron spin qubit can be achieved using a long-lived quantum-dot spin qubit coupled to a GaAs-based photonic-crystal cavity. Samuel Carter from the Naval Research Laboratory says that this system could be used as a node in a quantum network.

The study of random lasers based on disordered, scattering media has become an active topic of research in recent years. Nature Photonics spoke to Hui Cao from Yale University about developments in the area, potential applications and future opportunities.

Capturing the dynamics of atoms and molecules using X-ray free-electron laser pulses requires femtosecond timing between the pump and probe beams. Nature Photonics spoke with Marion Harmand and Marco Cammarata about their progress.

Strain in photonic structures can induce pseudomagnetic fields and Landau levels. Nature Photonics spoke to Mordechai Segev, Mikael Rechtsman, Alexander Szameit and Julia Zeuner about their unique approach.

Optical coherence theory has a long and proud tradition. Nature Photonics spoke to Ayman Abouraddy and Kumel Kagalwala to learn about their recent work, which may reshape this established field.

Researchers can now remove 36 electrons from a xenon atom using a pulse of high-energy photons from a free-electron laser. Nature Photonics spoke with Daniel Rolles to learn about the process and why the ionization is stronger than expected.

Joachim Krenn was one of the early pioneers of modern surface plasmon optics, and has almost 8,000 citations to his work. Nature Photonics spoke to Krenn about the field's origins.

Silvery fish have evolved an elegant optical scheme for overcoming the Brewster effect, creating broadband, polarization-neutral reflections for any angle of incidence. Nicholas Roberts explained to Nature Photonics how and why they do it.

The directional manipulation of spin waves, a long-awaited technique in spintronics, has now been realized by shaping a light pulse. Takuya Satoh from the University of Tokyo talked to Nature Photonics about the technique.

Brillouin scattering threatens to limit continued power-scaling for many fibre applications, but sapphire-derived all-glass fibres with large concentrations of alumina may help to eliminate this problem. Nature Photonics spoke to Peter Dragic and John Ballato to learn more.

Researchers around the world now have access to a second hard-X-ray free-electron laser facility: the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free-Electron Laser in Japan. Nature Photonics spoke to Makina Yabashi and Hitoshi Tanaka from the facility about their achievements and plans for the future.

Twisted light beams with different values of orbital angular momentum can be used to provide dramatic increases in the capacity of free-space optical communications. Nature Photonics spoke to Alan Willner at the University of Southern California to find out more.

Zhentang Zhao from the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics spoke with Nature Photonics about how he and his co-workers achieved first lasing in an echo-enabled harmonic generation free-electron laser.

Nature Photonics spoke to Kim Ta Phuoc about an extremely bright and compact X-ray and gamma-ray source that exploits laser plasma acceleration and Compton scattering simultaneously.