Atmospheric optics articles from across Nature Portfolio

Dual-comb spectroscopy with time–frequency dissemination and high-power frequency combs enables sensing CO₂ and H₂O over a 113 km turbulent open-air path, with a sensing precision as high as 2 parts per million of CO₂.

Hsiao-Mei Lin and coauthors achieve bidirectional communication using polarisation multiplexing and a tunable optical vestigial sideband filter. The system transmitted data over a total distance of 31.6 km, including both single-mode fibre and free-space optical links, achieving an aggregate capacity of 480 Gb/s for downstream and upstream transmissions.

A field trial in the Swiss mountains demonstrating that an intense laser beam can guide lightning discharge over tens of metres gives hope for the development of a new form of mobile lightning protection.

A diagram lost for more than 350 years documents a spectacular sky of 1630.