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Cells expressing green fluorescent protein can lase when placed in a reflective microcavity and optically pumped with blue light. These living lasers exhibit well-defined longitudinal and transverse laser modes, as depicted in the image.
Image courtesy of Malte C. Gather and Seok Hyun Yun.
The demonstration of a phase-sensitive optical amplifier with a noise figure of just 1.1 dB — three times lower than that of a conventional amplifier — could help significantly extend the reach of optical communications systems.
Lensless X-ray imaging is no longer limited to monochromatic sources. A new approach that is compatible with polychromatic beams can increase the efficiency of diffractive imaging experiments, thus significantly reducing exposure times.
Semiconductor light-emitting diodes may soon replace mercury lamps as the ultraviolet source of choice in a wide range of applications. Researchers around the world are now racing to increase the efficiency and output power of such ultraviolet solid-state devices.
Scientists demonstrate living biological lasers by pumping cells containing green fluorescent protein in a highly reflective microcavity. The researchers also investigate the thresholds and modes of their cellular lasers.
Scientists study the coupling, guiding and polarizing of electromagnetic waves in graphene and demonstrate a graphene-based fibre polarizer that exhibits a transverse-electric-pass polarization at an extinction ratio of up to ∼27 dB in the telecommunications band.
Growing a group III–V quantum dot laser directly on a group IV substrate could provide silicon photonics with a convenient new form of laser source for use in optoelectronic circuitry.
Poor coherence resulting from long exposure times is a problem for many coherent diffractive X-ray imaging schemes. Here, researchers show that coherent diffractive imaging using a broadband source can achieve a 60-fold reduction in exposure time.
Researchers demonstrate a microwave generator based on a high-Q optical resonator and a frequency comb functioning as an optical-to-microwave divider. They generate 10 GHz electrical signals with a fractional frequency instability of ≤8 × 10−16 at 1 s.
Scientists experimentally demonstrate an optical-fibre-based non-degenerate phase-sensitive amplifier link that offers broadband amplification, signal modulation-format independence and lower noise than links based on conventional erbium-doped fibre amplifiers.
Researchers have now shown that lasers — usually thought of as being inanimate optoelectronic instruments — can also be made from certain biological gain media. Nature Photonics spoke to Malte C. Gather and Seok Hyun Yun about their realization of a living single-cell laser.