Reviews & Analysis

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.

Scattering of light is usually seen as an impediment to focusing and imaging. This article reviews the recent progress of how strongly scattering media can be used to focus, shape and compress waves by controlling the many degrees of freedom in the incident waves.

Worldwide sales in the laser market grew to US$7.5 billion in 2011, recovering from a slump brought on by economic turmoil.

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.

Linking distant quantum memories with light has been a goal of the quantum information community for many years. A team at the University of Geneva has now demonstrated that memories made from rare-earth-ion-doped crystals can be connected using a single photon.

Providing sufficient gain to overcome loss remains a fundamental challenge for light amplification in miniaturized plasmonic devices. Ongoing research gives hope for a cautious but optimistic outlook.

Techniques for the targeted optical stimulation of neurons may offer new ways to tackle medical problems such as heart defects, epilepsy, Parkinson's, blindness and hearing loss.

Extreme ultraviolet attosecond pulses, which emerge from the interaction of atoms with intense laser fields, play a central role in modern ultrafast science and the exploration of electron behaviour. Recent work now shows that catastrophe theory can help optimize the properties of these pulses.

The demonstration of an in-fibre semiconductor photodetector with gigahertz bandwidth bodes well for the future development of hybrid fibre optoelectronics.

Bio-inspired by the nano-architectures of iridescent Morpho butterfly scales, scientists have demonstrated a highly sensitive infrared detector that can efficiently upconvert mid-infrared radiation to visible iridescence changes.

This Review focuses on several recent promising innovations in the field of dye-sensitized solar cells. The key strategies for device engineering and dye design are illustrated, together with explanations as to how these factors affect the robustness and power conversion efficiency of the final device. The outlook towards the commercialization of dye-sensitized solar cells is also described.

This Review summarizes recent progress in the development of polymer solar cells. It covers the scientific origins and basic properties of polymer solar cell technology, material requirements and device operation mechanisms, while also providing a synopsis of major achievements in the field over the past few years. Potential future developments and the applications of this technology are also briefly discussed.