Optical sensors articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The researchers showcase a flexible meta-sensor array based on classical Mie resonance, enabling precise detection of in-plane strain direction and magnitude using dynamically transmitted terahertz (THz) signals. The sensor array holds immense promise for the real-life applications as it possesses high sensor density and has a very large size up to (110 ×130 mm2).

    • Xueguang Lu
    • , Feilong Zhang
    •  & Qiang Cheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The researchers showcase a photonic-electronic FMCW LiDAR source composed of a micro-electronic based high-voltage arbitrary waveform generator, a photonic circuit-based tunable Vernier laser with piezoelectric actuators, and an erbium-doped waveguide amplifier.

    • Anton Lukashchuk
    • , Halil Kerim Yildirim
    •  & Tobias J. Kippenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Current multispectral video cameras can hardly scale up beyond megapixel resolution and do not apply to large-scale scenes. The authors design a tens-ofmegapixel handheld multi-spectral imaging scheme, build a setup achieving 65-megapixel videography of 12 wavebands, and show its wide applications.

    • Weihang Zhang
    • , Jinli Suo
    •  & Qionghai Dai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Squeezed light allows for quantum-enhanced, sub-shot-noise sensing, but its generation and use on a chip has so far remained elusive. Here, the authors fill this gap by demonstrating a thin-film lithium-niobate-based integrated quantum optical sensor, which beats shot-noise-limited SNR by ~ 4%.

    • Hubert S. Stokowski
    • , Timothy P. McKenna
    •  & Amir H. Safavi-Naeini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The sparse, noisy, and distorted raw photon data captured by single-photon cameras make it difficult to estimate scene properties under challenging illumination conditions. Here, the authors present Collaborative photon processing for Active Single-Photon Imaging (CASPI), a technology-agnostic, application-agnostic, and training-free photon processing pipeline for high-resolution single-photon cameras.

    • Jongho Lee
    • , Atul Ingle
    •  & Mohit Gupta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors develop an imaging-based intelligent spectrometer on a plasmonic “rainbow” chip. It can accurately and precisely determine the spectroscopic and polarimetric information of the illumination spectrum using a single image assisted by suitably trained deep learning algorithms.

    • Dylan Tua
    • , Ruiying Liu
    •  & Qiaoqiang Gan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A mechanically compliant and robust sensing material is essential for accurate and reliable thermal sensing. Here, the authors report the use of elastic organic crystals as fluorescence-based thermal sensors that cover a wide range of temperatures with complete retention of the sensor’s elasticity.

    • Qi Di
    • , Liang Li
    •  & Hongyu Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Laser probing of integrated circuits using sub-bandgap photon energies remains a challenge. Here, the authors propose a super-resolution method capable of achieving probe placement accuracy to better than 10 nm; extraction of electro-optic waveforms from a node of a group of transistors and applied this to isolate and identify a fault on a defective device.

    • V. K. Ravikumar
    • , Jiann Min Chin
    •  & Joel K. W. Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photonic integrated systems can be harnessed for fast and efficient optical telecommunication and metrology technologies. Here the authors develop a dual-soliton microcomb technique for massively parallel coherent laser ranging that requires only a single laser and a single photoreceiver.

    • Anton Lukashchuk
    • , Johann Riemensberger
    •  & Tobias J. Kippenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    'Recent developments in spectroscopy have witnessed the establishment of dual-comb techniques. In this work the authors demonstrate dual-comb photothermal spectroscopy providing gas sensing with superfine resolution and high sensitivity

    • Qiang Wang
    • , Zhen Wang
    •  & Wei Ren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dual-wavelength emission materials can provide fluorescence intensity ratio technology with self-calibration features; their fabrication however, remains a challenge. Here, authors design a dual-wavelength emitting material Li2ZnSiO4:Mn2+ and present a wearable optical fibre temperature sensor, functioning in both contact and noncontact modes.

    • Enhai Song
    • , Meihua Chen
    •  & Qinyuan Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Operando tracking the ion dynamics/states of battery is critical to understanding of electrolyte-electrode interactions. Here the authors propose to use the surface plasmon waves to rapidly screen localized electrochemical events on a sub-μm-scale thickness adjacent to the electrode interface, without perturbing battery operation.

    • Runlin Wang
    • , Haozhe Zhang
    •  & Tuan Guo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Precision measurement plays an important role in frequency metrology and optical communications. Here the authors compare two geographically separate ultrastable lasers at 7 × 10−17 fractional frequency instability over a 2220 km optical fibre link and these measurements can be useful for dissemination of ultrastable light to distant optical clocks.

    • M. Schioppo
    • , J. Kronjäger
    •  & G. Grosche

  • Article
    | Open Access

    What are the minimal hardware requirements for a given class of sensing problems? Here, authors investigate this while proposing a miniaturized near-infrared spectral sensor, based on an array of resonant-cavity enhanced photodetectors, and capable of operating without the need for spectral reconstruction.

    • Kaylee D. Hakkel
    • , Maurangelo Petruzzella
    •  & Andrea Fiore

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors present Synthetic Wavelength Holography, an approach for Non-Line-of-Sight imaging. By exploiting spectral correlations in scattered light, the authors transform real world surfaces such as walls or scatterers into High-Resolution, Wide-Field-of-View imaging portals that provide holograms of objects obscured from view.

    • Florian Willomitzer
    • , Prasanna V. Rangarajan
    •  & Oliver Cossairt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tracking of nanoparticle dynamics in solution often require labelling. Here, the authors use a high-finesse microcavity and simultaneously measure dispersive frequency shifts of three transverse modes, demonstrating 3D tracking of unlabelled single nanospheres, and quantitatively determine their physical properties.

    • Larissa Kohler
    • , Matthias Mader
    •  & David Hunger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Engineered stop bands to sense an ambient environment can enable many applications. Here, the authors demonstrate well-controlled processes to open high-aspect ratio nanoholes through optical fibre for Bragg gratings in the telecomm spectrum and to enable high-resolution refractive index sensing

    • Keivan Mahmoud Aghdami
    • , Abdullah Rahnama
    •  & Peter R. Herman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Weak value amplification in a compact format can lead to improved measurement capabilities in practical applications. Here the authors demonstrate weak value amplification in an integrated photonic chip with a multimode interferometer.

    • Meiting Song
    • , John Steinmetz
    •  & Jaime Cardenas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Generally, wavefronts are measured using angle-based sensors like the Shack-Hartmann sensor. Here, the authors present an angle-sensitive device that uses flat optics integrated on a focal plane array for compact wavefront sensing with improved resolution.

    • Soongyu Yi
    • , Jin Xiang
    •  & Zongfu Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The limit of X-ray detection is an important figure of merit for X-ray detectors, yet the suitability of method adopted from Currie’s 1968 paper and the following international standard is in doubt. Here, the authors propose a statistical model that correlates dark current and photo-current, show how it can be used to determine detection limit.

    • Lei Pan
    • , Shreetu Shrestha
    •  & Lei R. Cao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Doppler effect is a wave phenomenon that can find the magnitude of velocity of moving targets with scalar waves. Here, the authors use vectorially structured light with spatially variant polarization to fully determine both the magnitude of velocity and motion direction of a moving particle.

    • Liang Fang
    • , Zhenyu Wan
    •  & Jian Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optoacoustic sensing applications are limited by weak electrostrictive force. Here, the authors induce photothermally acoustic vibrations with a focused pulsed laser, and via scanning demonstrate sensing of acoustic impedance at 10 µm spatial resolution, allowing for visualisation of diffusion dynamics.

    • Yizhi Liang
    • , Huojiao Sun
    •  & Bai-Ou Guan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors present a bi-functional metasurface, combining structural color printing observed under white light and polarization encoded It is appropriate. vectorial holography. A pixelated design is used encode multiple holographic images, and they demonstrate an electrically tunable optical security platform.

    • Inki Kim
    • , Jaehyuck Jang
    •  & Junsuk Rho

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dielectric metasurfaces have different Q-factor and light localisation requirements for sensing and imaging. Here, the authors present a dielectric metasurface, supporting two optical modes with sharp Fano resonances for high Q-factors and strong spatial confinement, allowing both sensing and imaging.

    • Donato Conteduca
    • , Isabel Barth
    •  & Thomas F. Krauss

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Suppressing 1/f-shaped low-frequency noise is critical but fundamentally challenging to both electrical and optical transducers. Here, the authors demonstrate a 1/f-noise-free optical sensor with integrated CMOS-compatible heterodyne interferometer and an upconversion amplifying technique, which suppresses the noise by two orders of magnitude.

    • Ming Jin
    • , Shui-Jing Tang
    •  & Yun-Feng Xiao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing efficient light-emitting components without utilizing intricate back-end circuits remains a challenge. Here the authors present three-phase electric power driven electroluminescent devices capable to realize pixel units, interactive rewritable displays and to drive organic light-emitting devices with red, green and blue-emitting pixels.

    • Junpeng Ji
    • , Igor F. Perepichka
    •  & Wei Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Performance of distributed optical fiber sensing is partially limited by the need for hardware changes. Here, the authors introduce a coding algorithm that enables enhanced performance through faster processing using only software-based methods.

    • Xizi Sun
    • , Zhisheng Yang
    •  & Luc Thévenaz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors take advantage of stochastic resonance in a photodetector based on monolayer MoS2 for measuring otherwise undetectable, ultra-low-intensity, subthreshold optical signals from a distant light emitting diode in the presence of a finite and optimum amount of white Gaussian noise.

    • Akhil Dodda
    • , Aaryan Oberoi
    •  & Saptarshi Das

  • Comment
    | Open Access

    Exotic degeneracies in open quantum systems, so-called exceptional points, show rich physics and promise new applications, such as sensors with greatly enhanced response. Recent research on laser gyroscopes has uncovered limits of such sensors due to excess quantum noise.

    • Jan Wiersig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    On-chip mechanical sensing platforms require tuneable lasers with narrow linewidth and low spectral noise, making read-out challenging. Here, the authors report a nanomechanical sensor with 80nm bandwidth, displacement imprecision of 45 fm/Hz1/2 as well as a dynamic range greater than 30 nm with integrated photodetectors.

    • Tianran Liu
    • , Francesco Pagliano
    •  & Andrea Fiore

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The compound eyes of arthropods provide a visual advantage by seeing a wide range of angles all at once, but cameras that mimic them are usually curved and bulky. Here, the authors develop a flat, plasmonic image sensor array that enables high-quality wide-angle vision without lenses or curvature.

    • Leonard C. Kogos
    • , Yunzhe Li
    •  & Roberto Paiella

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Typically, the performance of the state-of-the-art laser sensors is insufficient for many high precision applications. Here, the authors report mode-phase-difference photothermal spectroscopy with a dual-mode anti-resonant hollow-core optical fiber and demonstrate acetylene detection with ultra-high sensitivity.

    • Pengcheng Zhao
    • , Yan Zhao
    •  & Pu Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single photon devices are needed for many future technologies, but resolving the color of single photons in a compact architecture is still a challenge. The authors present a broadband, chip-scale spectrometer for measuring single photon wavelengths from 600 to 2000 nm with no moving parts.

    • Risheng Cheng
    • , Chang-Ling Zou
    •  & Hong X. Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spatially resolved information about material deformation upon loading is critical to evaluate mechanical properties. Here the authors demonstrate integration of nanodiamond orientation sensing and atomic force microscopy nanoindentation as an approach to evaluate non-local material deformation on the nanoscale.

    • Kangwei Xia
    • , Chu-Feng Liu
    •  & Quan Li

Browse broader subjects

Browse Optical sensors across other nature.com journals