Applied optics articles from across Nature Portfolio

Three-dimensional, label-free optical images of a complex volumetric sample can now be obtained at a 1-Hz volumetric frame rate, thanks to the use of ultrafast camera measurements and sparse representation of the sample optical response.

A photonic force microscope has been developed with a trapped lanthanide-doped crystal detecting forces as small as 110 aN. This opens new prospects for force sensing in the physical sciences.

A simple cavity-based technology capable of simultaneously measuring optical rotary dispersion and circular dichroism within milliseconds offers ultra-high sensitivity and unprecedented spectral resolution.

Polaritons are confined hybrid light-matter excitations holding potential for optoelectronic and sensing applications, but their characterization is usually limited to optical spectroscopy. Here, the authors report the electrical spectroscopy of mid-infrared plasmon-phonon polaritons in Au/hBN/graphene nanoresonators, showing high lateral confinement and quality factors.

  Petahertz electronics uses sub-cycle currents from tailored optical waveforms for high-speed signal processing. This Review discusses progress towards the analogue age of petahertz electronics for optical waveform analysis and communication and provides an outlook toward digital petahertz electronics for classical and quantum computing.

60 years ago, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Charles Townes, Nicolay Basov and Aleksandr Prokhorov.

Three-dimensional, label-free optical images of a complex volumetric sample can now be obtained at a 1-Hz volumetric frame rate, thanks to the use of ultrafast camera measurements and sparse representation of the sample optical response.

A photonic force microscope has been developed with a trapped lanthanide-doped crystal detecting forces as small as 110 aN. This opens new prospects for force sensing in the physical sciences.

A simple cavity-based technology capable of simultaneously measuring optical rotary dispersion and circular dichroism within milliseconds offers ultra-high sensitivity and unprecedented spectral resolution.

Silicon photonic circuits offer a promising solution for the interconnect bottleneck for advanced computing systems, but they typically require additional materials, such as germanium for photodetection. An all-silicon receiver capable of handling a data stream at 1.28 terabits per second is paving the way for future optical interconnects.