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High-fidelity line-by-line spectral shaping has been applied to more than 100 phase-stable optical frequency-comb components. This represents a significant step towards optical arbitrary waveform generation and control.
A technique for cutting thin slices of lithium niobate offers a way of integrating this valuable material, and its strong nonlinear optical properties, into small photonic circuits.
Optical modulators typically rely on weak nonlinear light–matter interactions to modulate light with light. But using surface plasmons to excite quantum dots, researchers at the California Institute of Technology have now demonstrated an efficient approach to chip-based all-optical modulation.
Experiments now show that the force exerted by light can be used to pull a waveguide towards a microdisk resonator, illustrating how optical forces could be used for positioning and control in integrated microphotonics.
The combination of superconducting single-photon detectors and phase-shift keying technology has enabled a leap in the performance of quantum cryptography.
The demonstration of a fingertip-sized optical vapour cell on a silicon chip could ultimately lead to compact devices capable of performing sophisticated optical-signal-processing tasks using only a few photons.
Photonics research in Japan is thriving and there is no better place to hear the latest news firsthand than the meetings of the Japan Society of Applied Physics. Nature Photonics decided to pay the 54th Spring Meeting a visit.
Comparing ultrastable optical frequency standards developed in different laboratories presents a significant challenge. However, a group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder has now demonstrated a prototype coherent ring network that rises to the test.
Breaking the diffraction limit for the resolution of conventional optical systems has long been the primary aim of optical imaging. The recently demonstrated far-field optical superlens is paving the way to this elusive goal.
Is the terahertz spectral range finally about to be opened up for broad application across the physical and biological sciences? Researchers propose a new source of terahertz waves that could do just this.
Eighteen months ago a massive fire ripped through the Optoelectronics Research Centre at Southampton University in the UK. Nadya Anscombe talks to David Payne about the lessons learned and the future of one of the world's largest photonics research groups.
