Featured
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News & Views |
Off balance and over the edge
Ultrafast spectroscopy measurements present a new direct non-equilibrium energy transfer mechanism across a metal–semiconductor interface, without charge transfer, opening up a new avenue for plasmonic energy conversion.
- Christopher J. Ciccarino
- & Prineha Narang
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Article |
Dirac-vortex topological cavities
Surface emission from a topological mid-gap cavity shows large free spectral range and arbitrary mode degeneracy.
- Xiaomei Gao
- , Lechen Yang
- & Ling Lu
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Article |
Complex-amplitude metasurface-based orbital angular momentum holography in momentum space
A complex-amplitude metasurface hologram is conceptually designed and three-dimensionally printed. The device allows for high-bandwidth orbital angular momentum multiplexing holography and holographic video displays.
- Haoran Ren
- , Xinyuan Fang
- & Stefan A. Maier
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Article |
Photonic Rashba effect from quantum emitters mediated by a Berry-phase defective photonic crystal
Planar metasurfaces are a valuable tool to achieve custom-tailored photoluminescence from quantum emitters. The incorporation of a WSe2 monolayer into a photonic crystal slab with geometric phase defects enables spin-dependent manipulation of the emission from valley excitons of the WSe2, as well as from randomly placed quantum emitters.
- Kexiu Rong
- , Bo Wang
- & Erez Hasman
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Article |
High quality factor phase gradient metasurfaces
Quality factors as high as 2,500 can be achieved for subwavelength phase gradient metasurfaces.
- Mark Lawrence
- , David R. Barton III
- & Jennifer A. Dionne
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Letter |
Observation of inhomogeneous plasmonic field distribution in a nanocavity
The strength of the plasmonic field between a plasmonic particle and a Au surface can be measured at ~2-Å resolution by following the Raman peaks of a suitably labelled self-assembly monolayer.
- Chao-Yu Li
- , Sai Duan
- & Jian-Feng Li
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Letter |
Radiative Auger process in the single-photon limit
In a radiative Auger process, an excited electron relaxes by concomitant emission of a redshifted photon and energy transfer to another electron. Measuring radiative Auger processes in a quantum dot with single-photon resolution enables determination of the energy of single-electron levels as well as their lifetimes.
- Matthias C. Löbl
- , Clemens Spinnler
- & Richard J. Warburton
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Article |
Probing nanoscale fluctuation of ferromagnetic meta-atoms with a stochastic photonic spin Hall effect
Magneto-optical interaction of light with magnetic metasurfaces can give rise to the photonic spin Hall effect such that the light trajectory depends on the polarization of the light. For disordered systems, the probability distribution of the spin-dependent trajectories is a sensitive tool to detect random nanoscale variations in the metasurface.
- Bo Wang
- , Kexiu Rong
- & Erez Hasman
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News & Views |
Nanotechnology in a shrimp eye’s view
The sensitivity and visual acuity of the eye of the shrimp L. vannamei are achieved via an exquisitely optimized nanostructured tapetum leading to a very high reflectivity in an ultrathin layer. Understanding the properties of such natural nanostructures can lead to the design of artificial photonic materials with enhanced properties.
- Lukas Schertel
- & Silvia Vignolini
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Article |
Waveguide-integrated van der Waals heterostructure photodetector at telecom wavelengths with high speed and high responsivity
The low carrier mobilities of TMDCs pose a challenge for applications in high-speed photodetection. Integrating vertical two-dimensional heterostructures with photonic waveguides allows the intrinsic speed limitations to be overcome and record-high photodetection bandwidths to be achieved.
- Nikolaus Flöry
- , Ping Ma
- & Lukas Novotny
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News & Views |
The switch is on
Nanostructures of electrically conducting polymers show plasmonic behaviour that indicates their promise as switchable optical materials.
- Drew Evans
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Letter |
Conductive polymer nanoantennas for dynamic organic plasmonics
PEDOT nanodisks show near-infrared plasmonic resonances that can be reversibly switched by chemical redox reactions.
- Shangzhi Chen
- , Evan S. H. Kang
- & Magnus P. Jonsson
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Article |
Guiding of visible photons at the ångström thickness limit
A monolayer WS2 membrane patterned as a photonic crystal sustains guided optical modes that propagate via total internal reflection.
- Xingwang Zhang
- , Chawina De-Eknamkul
- & Ertugrul Cubukcu
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Letter |
Bright sub-20-nm cathodoluminescent nanoprobes for electron microscopy
Lanthanide-doped nanoparticles could be used as labels for the imaging of biomolecules, potentially leading to a multicolour modality in electron microscopy.
- Maxim B. Prigozhin
- , Peter C. Maurer
- & Steven Chu
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Article |
Tapered InP nanowire arrays for efficient broadband high-speed single-photon detection
Tapered InP nanowire p–n junction arrays enable efficient broadband and high-speed room-temperature photodetection.
- Sandra J. Gibson
- , Brad van Kasteren
- & Michael E. Reimer
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Article |
Optically switchable organic light-emitting transistors
A combination of light-emitting semiconductors and photochromic molecules enables the fabrication of optically switchable organic light-emitting transistors with tunable current and luminance.
- Lili Hou
- , Xiaoyan Zhang
- & Paolo Samorì
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Article |
Self-assembly of nanostructured glass metasurfaces via templated fluid instabilities
Optical glasses can form high-quality dielectric metasurfaces by controlled dewetting and fluid instabilities.
- Tapajyoti Das Gupta
- , Louis Martin-Monier
- & Fabien Sorin
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Letter |
Achromatic metalens array for full-colour light-field imaging
A metalens array of GaN nanoantennas is used to make a full-colour achromatic light-field camera.
- Ren Jie Lin
- , Vin-Cent Su
- & Din Ping Tsai
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Article |
Pushing the limits of optical information storage using deep learning
A machine-learning approach based on digital information encoding using silicon nanostructures enables a quasi-error-free read-out of sequences of up to 9 bit.
- Peter R. Wiecha
- , Aurélie Lecestre
- & Guilhem Larrieu
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Letter |
Nonlinear light generation in topological nanostructures
Zigzag arrays of silicon nanoparticles show topologically protected third-harmonic generation at the nanoscale.
- Sergey Kruk
- , Alexander Poddubny
- & Yuri Kivshar
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Letter |
Robust topologically protected transport in photonic crystals at telecommunication wavelengths
Thanks to its topological properties, a CMOS-compatible photonic crystal shows reflectionless transmission of light at telecommunication wavelengths even along a path with sharp turns.
- Mikhail I. Shalaev
- , Wiktor Walasik
- & Natalia M. Litchinitser
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Letter |
Deterministic coupling of site-controlled quantum emitters in monolayer WSe2 to plasmonic nanocavities
An array of Au nanocubes combined with a planar mirror simultaneously induces single-photon emitters at lithographically defined locations in WSe2 and enables directional outcoupling of Purcell-enhanced single photons with high quantum yield.
- Yue Luo
- , Gabriella D. Shepard
- & Stefan Strauf
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Letter |
Subwavelength angle-sensing photodetectors inspired by directional hearing in small animals
Two Si resonators couple through a non-Hermitian interaction to sense both the intensity and the incident angle of light with subwavelength resolution.
- Soongyu Yi
- , Ming Zhou
- & Mark Brongersma
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Letter |
Two-photon interference in the telecom C-band after frequency conversion of photons from remote quantum emitters
Quantum interference of two photons can be extended to the mid-infrared region by using quantum frequency conversion.
- Jonas H. Weber
- , Benjamin Kambs
- & Peter Michler
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Article |
Directional lasing in resonant semiconductor nanoantenna arrays
Active dielectric nanoantenna arrays exhibit low-threshold and high-quality-factor directional lasing achieved via a leaky resonance excited in coupled gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanopillars.
- Son Tung Ha
- , Yuan Hsing Fu
- & Arseniy I. Kuznetsov
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News & Views |
Time to multiplex
Quantitative near-infrared bioimaging gets a boost from time-domain multiplexing.
- Jean-Claude G. Bünzli
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Article |
Enhanced water splitting under modal strong coupling conditions
Strong coupling between a Fabry–Pérot cavity mode and plasmonic modes enhances the internal quantum efficiency of a water splitting device.
- Xu Shi
- , Kosei Ueno
- & Hiroaki Misawa
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Article |
High Purcell factor generation of indistinguishable on-chip single photons
Exploiting both pulsed resonant excitation and a large Purcell enhancement, a single quantum dot coupled to a photonic crystal nanostructure can deterministically produce highly indistinguishable single photons for on-chip quantum optical applications.
- Feng Liu
- , Alistair J. Brash
- & A. Mark Fox
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Letter |
Continuous-wave upconverting nanoparticle microlasers
Energy-looping excitation in lanthanide-doped upconverting nanoparticles enables low-threshold continuous-wave lasing in stand-alone microcavities.
- Angel Fernandez-Bravo
- , Kaiyuan Yao
- & P. James Schuck
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Article |
Broadband, electrically tunable third-harmonic generation in graphene
Gate tunable and ultrabroadband third-harmonic generation can be achieved in graphene, paving the way for electrically tunable broadband frequency converters for applications in optical communications and signal processing.
- Giancarlo Soavi
- , Gang Wang
- & Andrea C. Ferrari
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Article |
Multifunctional biophotonic nanostructures inspired by the longtail glasswing butterfly for medical devices
A nanostructured membrane inspired by transparent butterfly wings is used for intraocular pressure sensing in vivo.
- Vinayak Narasimhan
- , Radwanul Hasan Siddique
- & Hyuck Choo
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News & Views |
Light touch
Light-responsive silicon nanowires modulate neuron activity in a non-invasive manner.
- Guglielmo Lanzani
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News & Views |
Imaging the rainbow
Dielectric metalenses made of high-index materials can compensate material dispersion to achieve broadband imaging in the visible.
- Thomas Zentgraf
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Article |
A broadband achromatic metalens in the visible
Integrating the Pancharatnam–Berry phase with integrated resonant nanoantennas in a metalens design produces an achromatic device capable of full-colour imaging in the visible range in transmission mode.
- Shuming Wang
- , Pin Chieh Wu
- & Din Ping Tsai
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Article |
A broadband achromatic metalens for focusing and imaging in the visible
Controlling the geometry of each dielectric element of a nanostructured surface enables frequency-dependent group delay and group delay dispersion engineering, and the fabrication of an achromatic metalens for imaging in the visible in transmission.
- Wei Ting Chen
- , Alexander Y. Zhu
- & Federico Capasso
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Article |
Reactive tunnel junctions in electrically driven plasmonic nanorod metamaterials
Chemical reactions in nanoscale gaps can be controlled by hot electrons generated by voltage-induced tunnelling.
- Pan Wang
- , Alexey V. Krasavin
- & Anatoly V. Zayats
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Article |
A graphene Zener–Klein transistor cooled by a hyperbolic substrate
Boron-nitride-supported graphene transistors show prominent current and noise temperature saturation due to hyperbolic phonon emission by non-equilibrium electron–hole pairs.
- Wei Yang
- , Simon Berthou
- & Bernard Plaçais
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Article |
Focal molography is a new method for the in situ analysis of molecular interactions in biological samples
A coherent nanopattern of molecular recognition sites, termed a mologram, enables label-free analysis of biochemical interactions in complex samples.
- Volker Gatterdam
- , Andreas Frutiger
- & Christof Fattinger
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Article |
Directed emission of CdSe nanoplatelets originating from strongly anisotropic 2D electronic structure
Strong anisotropy of the electronic Bloch functions observed in CdSe nanoplatelets enables efficient directional emission.
- Riccardo Scott
- , Jan Heckmann
- & Alexander W. Achtstein
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News & Views |
Sensing without power
A thermally activated micromechanical switch delivers an electrical readout signal only when irradiated by a narrowband mid-infrared light, thanks to a metamaterial element that converts light into heat.
- Vladimir A. Aksyuk
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Article |
Room-temperature continuous-wave lasing from monolayer molybdenum ditelluride integrated with a silicon nanobeam cavity
A silicon nanobeam cavity laser integrated with monolayer molybdenum ditelluride enables room-temperature lasing in the near infrared.
- Yongzhuo Li
- , Jianxing Zhang
- & C. Z. Ning
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Letter |
Electrical tuning of a quantum plasmonic resonance
A blue shift in the surface plasmon resonance of an indium tin oxide layer is observed—and electrically tuned—where a classical description would predict a red shift.
- Xiaoge Liu
- , Ju-Hyung Kang
- & Mark L. Brongersma
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Article |
Controlling propagation and coupling of waveguide modes using phase-gradient metasurfaces
Optical waveguides patterned with gradient metasurfaces have compact footprints and broad wavelengths of operation thanks to tight control of the scattered light.
- Zhaoyi Li
- , Myoung-Hwan Kim
- & Nanfang Yu
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Research Highlights |
Our choice from the recent literature
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Review Article |
Utilizing the power of Cerenkov light with nanotechnology
This Review summarizes the developments in Cerenkov imaging and highlights how advances in nanotechnology and materials science have opened new avenues for basic and applied sciences using Cerenkov luminescence.
- Travis M. Shaffer
- , Edwin C. Pratt
- & Jan Grimm
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Letter |
Single-nanotube tracking reveals the nanoscale organization of the extracellular space in the live brain
A super-resolution imaging technique based on single-nanotube tracking is used to study the nanoscale organization and local viscosity of the brain extracellular space.
- Antoine G. Godin
- , Juan A. Varela
- & Laurent Cognet
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Article |
Evolutionary multi-objective optimization of colour pixels based on dielectric nanoantennas
A numerical technique that can self-adapt to experimental limitations can guide the design of photonic nanostructures by optimizing multiple parameters.
- Peter R. Wiecha
- , Arnaud Arbouet
- & Vincent Paillard