Optical techniques articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    Coherent diffractive imaging exploits coherent X-ray sources to image objects from their diffraction patterns, but fails for decreasing coherence. Using partially coherent diffraction patterns, Clarket al. obtain three dimensional reconstructions of nanocrystals and determine the wavefield coherence.

    • J.N. Clark
    • , X. Huang
    •  & I.K. Robinson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Non-uniform light beams can create patterns in azo-polymer films by inducing mass transport, yet the process is not well understood. Using optical vortex beams, Ambrosioet al. observe the formation of spiral patterns that are surprisingly sensitive to the optical phase, which they explain with a new model.

    • Antonio Ambrosio
    • , Lorenzo Marrucci
    •  & Pasqualino Maddalena

  • Article |

    X-ray free-electron lasers offer a wealth of possibilities for future diffraction studies, but variations in successive pulses mean the wavefront is not well defined. Rutishauseret al. use grating interferometry to characterize the wavefronts shot to shot, both in situand under operating conditions.

    • Simon Rutishauser
    • , Liubov Samoylova
    •  & Christian David

  • Article |

    Absorption imaging relies on the capture of photons by an object to create intensity contrasts, allowing for the visualization of small quantum systems. Streedet al. demonstrate the first absorption imaging of an isolated ytterbium ion, with contrast at the limit of semiclassical theory.

    • Erik W. Streed
    • , Andreas Jechow
    •  & David Kielpinski

  • Article |

    Flow lithography is used to synthesize microparticles but relies on polydimethylsiloxane microchannels for oxygen to permeate and inhibit polymerization near channel interfaces. Now, non-polydimethylsiloxane devices have been developed, which allow oxygen-free lithography, increasing the capabilities of flow lithography.

    • Ki Wan Bong
    • , Jingjing Xu
    •  & Patrick S. Doyle

  • Article |

    An important goal in optics is to image objects hidden by turbid media, although line-of-sight techniques fail when the obscuring medium becomes opaque. Veltenet al. use ultrafast imaging techniques to recover three-dimensional shapes of non-line-of-sight objects after reflection from diffuse surfaces.

    • Andreas Velten
    • , Thomas Willwacher
    •  & Ramesh Raskar

  • Article |

    Ultrafast excitation offers new routes to controlling material properties on short timescales, but probes are needed to better understand the changes. By studying the phonon spectrum of VO2 in the time domain, Wall et al. find a prompt change in lattice potential after a photoinduced structural transition.

    • S. Wall
    • , D. Wegkamp
    •  & M. Wolf

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