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A high-intensity attosecond X-ray free-electron laser, meeting the demands of attosecond science for research on the sub-femtosecond-timescale quantum-mechanical motion of electrons in molecules and solids, is now available for attosecond pump–attosecond probe experiments in the soft X-ray region.
Time-of-flight 3D imaging is an invaluable remote sensing tool, but raster speeds are currently limited by pulsed-laser scanning rates. By adapting techniques from ultrafast time-stretch imaging, a new LiDAR platform scans orders of magnitude faster than today’s commercial line-scanning pulsed-LiDAR systems.
The use of amplitude-squeezed states of light as a probe is shown to yield superior measurements of the motion of a moving mirror at low frequencies. The demonstration offers a path to improving the sensitivity of gravitational-wave detectors.
The realization of ultrafast integrated opto-optical switches with ultra-low switching energies remains an ongoing challenge. Broadband, silicon-compatible devices relying on gap plasmons and saturable absorption in graphene could pave the way forward.
Measurements of the Hong–Ou–Mandel effect in a quantum system with PT-symmetric losses composed of coupled waveguides and single photons produce some counterintuitive results.
While the ability to increase the light–matter interaction by depositing graphene inside the air holes of a long length of photonic crystal fibre is worth celebrating, cautious optimism is called for when we begin to discuss the industrialization of graphene-based fibre-optic components.
A quantum-dot-based single-photon source with a polarized single-photon efficiency of 60% and an indistinguishability of 0.975 is demonstrated by introducing a small asymmetry in a photonic cavity structure.
A wide-field system that can perform video-rate imaging of the entire area of the brain of an awake mouse is aiding the study of neurones, epilepsy and the immune system.
The occurrence of Bell non-locality, observations that cannot be explained in terms of local influences, is one of the most remarkable features of quantum theory. A new test of non-locality, tailored for quantum networks, has now been implemented in a network with two independent quantum sources.
Higher-order topological states that are robust against certain classes of disorder and pinned to lattice corners are now observed in photonics platforms.
Increased bandwidth and fluctuations are hurdles on the path towards generating intense fully coherent X-ray free-electron laser output. A recent experiment at FERMI Trieste demonstrated that these difficulties can be overcome by an approach called echo-enabled harmonic generation.
Modulation of light by external waves is an essential function in any photonics-based system. Using an integrated plasmonic approach, the speed of modulation of 1.55-μm waves has now been extended to the ‘low’ THz band.
