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The resonance wavelengths of optical Möbius strip microcavities can be continuously tuned via geometric phase manipulation by changing the thickness-to-width ratio of the strip.
Using two different designs of superconductor-based detectors, two independent research groups report photon number detection for light pulses with up to 100 photons.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors offer outstanding performance, but the development of large-format imaging arrays is challenging. A new approach based on sectioning a single nanowire enables an eightfold improvement of the spatial resolution and the realization of a 1,024-pixel imager.
The free-carrier dispersion effect with photo-excited free carriers provides all-optical control of the resonance of photonic crystal microcavities. Using this technique, a spatial light modulator comprising optically addressed cavity arrays has been developed for high-efficiency, high-bandwidth spatiotemporal modulation of light.
Experimental confirmation that the Gouy phase can modify the photonic de Broglie wavelength opens up many exciting directions in metrology using quantum systems with higher-order Gaussian modes.
Suppression of exciton–vibration coupling yields organic light-emitting diodes that emit at 1,000 nm in the NIR-II spectral region, which is important for biological imaging.
Ultrasound-induced gas bubbles in tissue can temporarily minimize optical scattering, enabling laser light to be focused at greater depth for higher-resolution imaging.
The use of on-chip nonlinear waveguides that can convert 1.5-μm wavelength signals into the 2-μm region brings new opportunities for expanding the bandwidth of optical communications.
The demonstration that diamond nitrogen–vacancy centre technology can optically detect voltages with an impressive sensitivity could bring new opportunities for investigating neurobiology.
A combination of state-of-the-art temporal and spatial shaping techniques enables shaping pulsed laser light in all dimensions in a correlated manner, paving the way for new classes of on-demand space–time wavepackets.
A photonic quantum heat engine based on superradiance — many-atom quantum coherence — is shown to deliver enhanced operation, with an efficiency no longer bounded by the Carnot limit.
