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Reconfigurable optical chips made from 2D meshes of connected waveguides could pave the way for programmable, general purpose microwave photonics processors.
Methods to improve the transmission distance of quantum communication, to combat channel loss and to implement an optical Ising machine were just some of the topics discussed at QCrypt 2015 in Tokyo, Japan.
Extracting a single photon from a light pulse is deceptively complicated to accomplish. Now, a deterministic experimental implementation of photon subtraction could bring a host of opportunities in quantum information technology.
Last year the common notion that signal disturbance has to be monitored in a quantum cryptographic link to guarantee secrecy was challenged by a new protocol. The formidable task of demonstrating it experimentally has now been achieved.
Heating LEDs from room temperature to 615 K is found to increase their emission power fourfold. The finding suggests that thermophotonics could remove the need for heat sinks for high-power devices.
Diode lasers represent a viable alternative to light sources used in many biomedical applications. Their ongoing development will further increase their importance, offering not only multiple wavelength ranges, but also higher power levels.
Techniques for determining Stokes parameters, which fully define the polarization state of a wave, require multiple measurements, thus potentially leading to inaccuracies. Researchers now show how to simultaneously determine the parameters for visible light using periodic metal structures.
Crossing two focused laser beams with opposite circular polarization makes the production and application of circularly polarized light in the extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray spectral regions considerably easier and more efficient.
Next-generation wireless communication, high-harmonic generation of sub-cycle pulses and ultrafast probing of the excitation dynamics of materials were all topics of discussion at this year's IRMMW-THz conference in Hong Kong.
Integrated nano-optical memories may help overcome the limitations of communication speeds and energy costs in electronic chips. Now, using nanoscale phase-change materials researchers have realized the first multi-bit all-optical non-volatile memories with a very small footprint.
Hyperbolic phonon polaritons confined to the subdiffraction limit exhibit encouragingly long lifetimes and group velocities as slow as 0.002c. Researchers use a time-resolved set-up sensitive to nanometre-scale optical fields to shed light on the exciting optical properties of hyperbolic materials.
Nanodiamonds that are levitated by light and are equipped with internal spin provide a new platform for performing quantum and optomechanical experiments with massive, environmentally isolated objects.
Perovskite semiconductors have altered the landscape of solar cell research. Now researchers show that these materials may also offer a flexible platform for colour imaging and wavelength-selective sensing.
The opportunities and challenges for wide-scale deployment of silicon photonics in data centres dominated discussion at this year's Group IV Photonics conference in Canada.
