News & Comment

The discrete quantum nature of plasmons may be exploited to make efficient single-photon sources. Despite the losses associated with metallic resonators, advantages over dielectric counterparts exist when it comes to producing efficient quantum emitters.

Thinking of creating your own company? Perseverance, pragmatism, flexibility and truly understanding your customers' needs are all vital ingredients for success.

An Austrian start-up describes how its membrane-free optical microphone technology is being put to good use in ultrasonic non-destructive testing and process control.

Graphene is no longer alone; a family of atomically thin 2D semiconductors has emerged. Optoelectronics and photonics applications are in their experimental infancy but the future holds much promise.

The definition and reporting of spatial resolution for coherent imaging methods varies widely in the imaging community. We advocate the use of a standard spoke-pattern imaging target and the mandatory inclusion of information about underlying a priori assumptions.

Spin–orbit optical phenomena involve the interaction of the photon spin with the light wave propagation and spatial distribution, mediated by suitable optical media. Here we present a short overview of the emerging photonic applications that rely on such effects.

The concept of optical computing is reintroduced with an important new twist — optical computing not as a digital machine, but as an analog engine able to serve as a hardware accelerator for existing electronic computers.

The use of photonics technology is bringing new capabilities and insights to cardiovascular medicine. Intracoronary imaging and sensing, laser ablation and optical pacing are just some of the functions being explored to help diagnose and treat conditions of the heart and arteries.

SESAME is a 2.5 GeV third-generation light source under construction in Jordan. Commissioning will begin in the second half of next year, assuming the funding that is still needed can be found.

Charles Townes, the Nobel laureate acclaimed for his pioneering work on lasers and nonlinear optics, sadly passed away in January this year. Here I offer personal reflections of working with him as one of his graduate students.

The nineteenth-century Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell made groundbreaking contributions to many areas of science including thermodynamics and colour vision. However, he is best known for his equations that unified electricity, magnetism and light.

Mischaracterization of solar cell power conversion efficiencies and widespread publication of inconsistent data in scientific journals threatens to undermine progress in organic and hybrid photovoltaics research.

Silicon photonics is the optical analogue of silicon microelectronics. It promises to use photons to detect, process and transmit information more efficiently than electrical signals, and yet have low manufacturing costs as a result of using conventional silicon-integrated-circuit processes.

Applying structured illumination microscopy to coherent imaging modalities such as scattering does not yield any additional information beyond that provided by oblique illumination. It thus yields no resolution enhancement over the Abbe diffraction limit, which was derived precisely for that case.

To avoid a 'capacity crunch', future optical networks will need to simultaneously transmit multiple spatial channels. For spatial multiplexing to be practical, the upgrade path from legacy wavelength-division multiplexed systems needs to be smooth and to consider integration-induced crosstalk from the outset.

Even for simple systems, the interpretations of new attosecond measurements are complicated and provide only a glimpse of their potential. Nonetheless, the lasting impact will be the revelation of how short-time dynamics can determine the electronic properties of more complex systems.

Nanotubes and graphene have emerged as promising materials for use in ultrafast fibre lasers. Their unique electrical and optical properties enable them to be used as saturable absorbers that have fast responses and broadband operation and that can be easily integrated in fibre lasers.

The development of innovative tools and techniques is vital for improving research capabilities and opening up new research directions in the terahertz regime. Terahertz sources and plasmonics are just two examples of current exciting advances.

The quest for on-chip optical isolators has recently spawned many new isolator structures. However, there has been some confusion about the requirement of nonreciprocity. Here, we review the essential characteristics of an isolator.

Governments are demanding more value for money from scientists, which is putting fundamental research under increasing pressure. Scientists should know how to champion it more effectively.