Optical techniques articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing high-dimensional optical imaging techniques that record space and polarization cannot detect the photon’s time of arrival due to the limited speeds of electronic sensors. Here, the authors develop a single-shot ultrafast imaging modality to record light-speed high-dimensional events with picosecond resolution.

    • Jinyang Liang
    • , Peng Wang
    •  & Lihong V. Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors demonstrate a route to high resolution microendoscopy using a multicore fibre with a photonic lantern. They show that distinct multimode patterns of light can be projected from the output of the lantern by individually exciting the single-mode MCF cores, whose patterns are highly stable to fibre movement.

    • Debaditya Choudhury
    • , Duncan K. McNicholl
    •  & Robert R. Thomson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    SERS can be unreliable for biomedical use. The authors demonstrate a metal-free nanostructure composed of porous carbon nanowires in an array as a SERS substrate. It offers 106 signal enhancement due to strong broadband charge-transfer resonance and substrate-to-substrate, spot-to-spot and time-to-time consistency in the SERS spectrum.

    • Nan Chen
    • , Ting-Hui Xiao
    •  & Keisuke Goda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The presence of ferroaxial domain states is recently experimentally demonstrated by a nonlinear optical technique, which lacks high spatial resolution to visualize ferroaxial domains. Here, the authors visualize spatial distributions of ferroaxial domains in NiTiO3 showing an order-disorder type ferroaxial transition.

    • T. Hayashida
    • , Y. Uemura
    •  & T. Kimura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Efficient generation of phonons is an important ingredient for a prospective electrically-driven phonon laser for coherent control of quantum systems. Here, the authors report on laser-like phonon emission in a hybrid semiconductor microcavity that optomechanically couples BEC polaritons with phonons.

    • D. L. Chafatinos
    • , A. S. Kuznetsov
    •  & A. Fainstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Techniques for imaging through scattering media are generally invasive, operate at microscopic scales or require a priori information. Here, the authors overcome these limitations by introducing confocal diffuse tomography, which captures the 3D shape of objects hidden behind scattering media.

    • David B. Lindell
    •  & Gordon Wetzstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-molecule sensing is very challenging due to weak emitted signals and environmental interference. Here the authors design a method (i-SET) for single molecule sensing with core-shell upconverting nanoparticles, which relies on signal enhancement by the activator-rich probes to quantify fluorophores attached to a single nanoparticle.

    • Jian Zhou
    • , Changyu Li
    •  & Renren Deng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors show that the resolution and speed limitations in broadband photo-acoustic spectroscopy can be overcome by combining dual-comb spectroscopy with photo-acoustic detection. This enables broadband detection and allows for rapid and sensitive multi-species molecular analysis across all wavelengths of light.

    • Thibault Wildi
    • , Thibault Voumard
    •  & Tobias Herr

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pixel size in imaging and displays is limited by fundamental constraints that compromise performance at wavelength scales. Here the authors present subwavelength color pixel sensors based on anti-Hermitian metasurfaces relying on structural color for increased performance.

    • Joseph S. T. Smalley
    • , Xuexin Ren
    •  & Xiang Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High resolution intravascular imaging in the brain is limited by the high tortuosity of the vasculature. Here the authors present a fiber optic imaging technology using high-frequency optical coherence tomography (HF-OCT) to provide volumetric high resolution images in the highly tortuous cerebral vasculature.

    • Giovanni J. Ughi
    • , Miklos G. Marosfoi
    •  & Ajit S. Puri

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological quantized transport has been limited to slow varying potentials. Here, the authors report that a topological band structure and associated quantized transport can be restored by non-Hermitian Floquet engineering at a driving frequency as large as the system’s band gap.

    • Zlata Fedorova
    • , Haixin Qiu
    •  & Johann Kroha

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nano-FTIR spectroscopy allows chemical characterization of composite surfaces, but its capability in subsurface analysis is not much explored. The authors show that spectra from thin surface layers differ from those of subsurface layers of the same organic material, and establish a method for distinguishing them in experiments.

    • Lars Mester
    • , Alexander A. Govyadinov
    •  & Rainer Hillenbrand

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An out-of-plane magnetic field is expected to strongly modify exciton-phonon interactions in atomically thin transitional metal dichalcogenides. Here, the authors show that the phonon-exciton interaction in monolayer WSe2 lifts the inter-Landau-level transition selection rules for dark trions.

    • Zhipeng Li
    • , Tianmeng Wang
    •  & Su-Fei Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors generalize cumulant analysis by extending it into the spectral domain to allow multicolour super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging. The simultaneous acquisition of two spectral channels followed by spectral cross-cumulant analysis and unmixing allows denser spectral and spatial sampling of the super-resolved image.

    • K. S. Grußmayer
    • , S. Geissbuehler
    •  & T. Lasser

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors develop a first-principles workflow for calculating Raman spectra of 733 monolayers from the computational 2D materials database. After benchmarking results against experimental data for 15 monolayers, an automatic procedure for identifying a material from its Raman spectrum is proposed.

    • Alireza Taghizadeh
    • , Ulrik Leffers
    •  & Kristian S. Thygesen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Characterizing the total impulse response (TIR) of photoacoustic microscopes has been challenging due to difficulties distributing appropriate point sources. Here, the authors present a method for 3D generation of spatially-distributed optoacoustic point sources and show that subsequent TIR correction results in improved image quality.

    • Markus Seeger
    • , Dominik Soliman
    •  & Vasilis Ntziachristos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Solar-driven CO2 reduction by abundant water to alcohols is hindered by the sluggish water oxidation reaction. Here, the authors demonstrate that the microwave-synthesized carbon-dots possess unique hole-accepting nature, allowing stoichiometric oxygen and methanol production from water and CO2 with nearly 100% selectivity to methanol.

    • Yiou Wang
    • , Xu Liu
    •  & Junwang Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Terahertz imaging is promising in many applications, but still relies on complex equipment. Here, the authors develop a simplified solution that enables terahertz real-time imaging using a single-pixel detector and rapid reconstruction methods.

    • Rayko Ivanov Stantchev
    • , Xiao Yu
    •  & Emma Pickwell-MacPherson

  • 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

    Compact spectrometers can be useful in many applications and many sophisticated architectures have been proposed. In this work, the authors show that with an evaporating droplet on a fiber tip, spectrometry can be robustly and accurately performed with a simple and passive microfluidic system.

    • P. Malara
    • , A. Giorgini
    •  & G. Gagliardi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Imaging Cherenkov emission during radiotherapy can provide information on the delivered radiation dose, but is attenuated by optical properties of the tissue. Here the authors derive a correction factor applicable to breast X-ray radiotherapy in human subjects to improve the correlation between Cherenkov emission intensity and dose.

    • R. L. Hachadorian
    • , P. Bruza
    •  & L. A. Jarvis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrafast imaging has been limited by the speed of electronic sensors. Here, the authors demonstrate single-shot compressed ultrafast spectral photography, which combines spectral encoding, pulse splitting, temporal shearing, and compressed sensing in order to achieve real-time imaging at 70 trillion frames per second.

    • Peng Wang
    • , Jinyang Liang
    •  & Lihong V. Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Visualising single-molecule reactions, to understand their mechanisms, is a challenging task. Here, the authors investigate disulfide exchange reactions with thiolates immobilised on a gold nanoparticle through a label-free optoplasmonic sensor, and detect individual disulfide interactions in solution

    • Serge Vincent
    • , Sivaraman Subramanian
    •  & Frank Vollmer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Currently a cell-resolution map of the human cornea can only be obtained in the clinic with a confocal microscope in contact with the eye. Here the authors develop a full-field/spectral-domain OCT microscope (FF/SD OCT) to enable cell-level detail of the entire ocular surface, as well as blood flow and tear dynamics.

    • Viacheslav Mazlin
    • , Peng Xiao
    •  & A. Claude Boccara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Non-human primate models are important for the development of high quality vision restoration therapies for blindness. Here, the authors demonstrate restoration of light responses in foveal retinal ganglion cells of the living macaque following optogenetic gene therapy.

    • Juliette E. McGregor
    • , Tyler Godat
    •  & William H. Merigan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Circular polarization luminescence (CPL) spectroscopy is a tool to study chiroptical systems, but the measurement process is generally very slow. The authors introduce a CPL technique with much faster acquisition, demonstrating meaningful time-dependent measurements and enabling new applications.

    • Lewis E. MacKenzie
    • , Lars-Olof Pålsson
    •  & Robert Pal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Current implementations of non-line-of-sight imaging use reconstruction algorithms that are difficult to implement fast enough for real-time application using light efficient equipment. The authors present an algorithm for non-line-of-sight imaging that is low complexity and allows fast and efficient reconstruction on a standard computer.

    • Xiaochun Liu
    • , Sebastian Bauer
    •  & Andreas Velten

  • 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

    Flexible materials with mechano-responsive luminescence has gained interest for their potential in sensing devices. Here, the authors demonstrate targeted folding under high compressive strains, which, together with the oxygen quenching of fluorophores, forms the basis for topo-optical sensing.

    • Cong Wang
    • , Ding Wang
    •  & Ben Bin Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photocurrent control in nanoscale systems offers opportunities for nanoelectronic devices and ultrafast imaging applications. Here, the authors show by means of angle-resolved two-dimensional velocity mapping that angular photoemission distributions can be controlled by varying the polarization and frequency of the laser.

    • Jacob Pettine
    • , Priscilla Choo
    •  & David J. Nesbitt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The second law of thermodynamics cannot be straightforwardly applied to systems with non-Markovian feedback control, and previous extensions to cover that regime have not been tested experimentally. Here, the authors bridge this gap using an optically levitated microsphere in a feedback-cooling system.

    • Maxime Debiossac
    • , David Grass
    •  & Nikolai Kiesel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Shock-waves in explosive, supersonic or ionizing environments impart phase distortions to holographic imaging. Here, the authors report an ultra-high-speed phase conjugate digital in-line holography technique where a laser passes through the shock-wave and is reflected back through the phase distortion, thus correcting phase delays.

    • Yi Chen Mazumdar
    • , Michael E. Smyser
    •  & Daniel R. Guildenbecher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Disentangling the radiative and non-radiative plasmon mode contributions to the total photonic density of states is a challenge. Here, the authors report a procedure to eliminate the electronic-structure factors from scanning tunnelling microscope luminescence spectra to isolate the radiative component.

    • Alberto Martín-Jiménez
    • , Antonio I. Fernández-Domínguez
    •  & Roberto Otero

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Imagers capable of reconstructing three-dimensional scenes in the presence of strong background noise are desirable for many remote sensing and imaging applications. Here, the authors report an imager operating in photon-starved and noise-polluted environments through quantum parametric mode sorting.

    • Patrick Rehain
    • , Yong Meng Sua
    •  & Yu-Ping Huang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Light pulses with controllable parameters are desired for studying the fundamental properties of matter. Here the authors generate and use phase-manipulated and highly time-stable XUV pulse pairs to probe the coherent evolution and dephasing of XUV electronic coherences in helium and argon.

    • Andreas Wituschek
    • , Lukas Bruder
    •  & Frank Stienkemeier

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