Micro-optics articles from across Nature Portfolio

In all fiber optics, loss in the visible and UV is restricted by scattering. By improving the core roughness of hollow-core fibers, record attenuation values at short-wavelengths were achieved, opening exciting prospects in visible and UV-photonics.

Meta-mirrors may help realize ultra-stable lasers for high-precision metrology, for applications like gravitational wave detection and quantum optics. The authors experimentally realize a new type of microstructured meta-mirror and use it to form a Fabry-Perot cavity with low thermal noise and a high finesse of 12,000.

Machine learning has demonstrated effectiveness in optimizing complex physical structures. In this study, the authors employ a machine learning approach to inversely design non-Hermitian layered optical systems with gain and loss modulation, showing that the trained network can reveal the relation between asymmetric transmission and reflection spectra.

We demonstrate that voids in high-index dielectrics support localized resonant modes which are confined in air and thus do not suffer from the loss and dispersion of the host medium