Optics and photonics articles within Nature

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  • News & Views |

    A highly precise timekeeping instrument has been adapted for the real world. The compact and robust device is smaller than its commercial counterparts and performs comparably in the laboratory and aboard a naval ship.

    • Bonnie L. S. Marlow
    •  & Jonathan Hirschauer

  • Article |

    We develop an optical method that can set and read the state of electrons in the valley polarization of bulk transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors, with potential utility as digital storage at quantum coherent timescales and application in quantum computing.

    • Igor Tyulnev
    • , Álvaro Jiménez-Galán
    •  & Jens Biegert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    We introduce strong tailored light-wave-driven time-reversal symmetry breaking in monolayer hexagonal boron nitride, realizing a sub-laser-cycle controllable analogue of the topological model of Haldane and inducing non-resonant valley polarization.

    • Sambit Mitra
    • , Álvaro Jiménez-Galán
    •  & Shubhadeep Biswas

  • Research Briefing |

    Applications from quantum computing to searches for physics beyond the standard model could benefit from precision control of polyatomic molecules. A method of confining and manipulating single polyatomic molecules held in tightly focused ‘optical tweezer’ laser arrays at ultracold temperatures could boost progress on all those fronts.

  • News & Views |

    Clever manipulation of electrons has enabled scientists to change a key property of light emitted by a device using electrically controlled magnetization. The method could lead to stable and energy-efficient information transfer.

    • Satoshi Hiura

  • Analysis
    | Open Access

    Efficiency roll-off in a wide range of TADF OLEDs is analysed and a figure of merit proposed for materials design to improve efficiency at high brightness, potentially expanding the range of applications of TADF materials.

    • S. Diesing
    • , L. Zhang
    •  & I. D. W. Samuel

  • Article |

    Through inelastic light scattering chiral spin-2 long-wavelength magnetorotons are observed, revealing chiral graviton modes in fractional quantum Hall states and aiding in understanding the quantum metric impacts in topological correlated systems.

    • Jiehui Liang
    • , Ziyu Liu
    •  & Aron Pinczuk

  • Article |

    We demonstrate an all-optical, mode-locking, Kerr-comb frequency division method that provides a chip-scale microwave source that is extremely versatile, accurate, stable and has ultralow noise, using only a single continuous-wave laser.

    • Yun Zhao
    • , Jae K. Jang
    •  & Alexander L. Gaeta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A miniaturized optical frequency division system that could transfer the generation of microwaves, with superior spectral purity, to a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible integrated photonic platform is demonstrated showing potential for large-volume, low-cost manufacturing for many applications.

    • Shuman Sun
    • , Beichen Wang
    •  & Xu Yi

  • Article |

    An integrated device that combines optical parametric oscillation and electro-optic modulation in lithium niobate creates a flat-top frequency-comb-like output with low power requirements.

    • Hubert S. Stokowski
    • , Devin J. Dean
    •  & Amir H. Safavi-Naeini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    We demonstrate a photon-counting approach that extends the unique advantages of spectroscopy with interfering frequency combs into regions where nonlinear frequency conversion tends to be very inefficient, providing a step towards precision broadband spectroscopy at short wavelengths and extreme-ultraviolet dual-comb spectroscopy.

    • Bingxin Xu
    • , Zaijun Chen
    •  & Nathalie Picqué

  • Article
    | Open Access

    We leverage advances in integrated photonics to generate low-noise microwaves with an optical frequency division architecture that can be low power and chip integrated.

    • Igor Kudelin
    • , William Groman
    •  & Scott A. Diddams

  • Research Briefing |

    A combination of technical improvements in noise mitigation enabled the observation of the quantum force of light on a millimetre-scale drum at room temperature. This experimental system permits the drum’s position to be measured with an accuracy close to the quantum limit.

  • Article |

    An integrated lithium niobate photonic processing engine performs integration and differentiation of analogue signals, solves ordinary differential equations, generates ultra-wideband microwave signals and detects edges in images.

    • Hanke Feng
    • , Tong Ge
    •  & Cheng Wang

  • Article |

    Optical nanoscale disk memory with petabit-level capacity is developed by extending the recording architecture to three dimensions with hundreds of layers, and exabit-level storage can be achieved by stacking the disks into arrays.

    • Miao Zhao
    • , Jing Wen
    •  & Min Gu

  • News & Views |

    A method for configuring light-trapping devices promises better optical nanodevices by amplifying light and enhancing the emission efficiency of luminescent nanomaterials — without the need for complex technology upgrades.

    • Kirill Koshelev

  • Nature Podcast |

    Research suggests a combination of behaviours underlie the evolution of human cooperation, and researchers make an optical disc with enormous storage capacity.

    • Benjamin Thompson
    •  & Nick Petrić Howe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An experimental design consisting of a photonic-crystal nanoslab covered with upconversion nanoparticles demonstrates the phenomenon of supercritical coupling, resulting in giant enhancement of upconversion by photonic bound states in the continuum.

    • Chiara Schiattarella
    • , Silvia Romano
    •  & Gianluigi Zito

  • Research Briefing |

    Tailoring symmetries in an innovative class of optoelectronic metasurface produces a rich landscape of tunable current patterns down to the nanoscale. These materials provide opportunities for ultrafast light-controlled charge flows that could have applications in terahertz science, information processing and other realms.

  • Research Briefing |

    Self-reinforcing light pulses known as solitons are fundamental structures in wave dynamics. Previously, solitons could be produced only by bench-top lasers, but they can now also be generated using chip-sized mid-infrared lasers. This innovation enables the development of portable, efficient tools for use in spectroscopy, environmental sensing and medical diagnostics.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vectorial optoelectronic metasurfaces are described, showing that light pulses can be used to drive and direct local charge flows around symmetry-broken plasmonic nanostructures, leading to tunable responses in terahertz emission.

    • Jacob Pettine
    • , Prashant Padmanabhan
    •  & Hou-Tong Chen

  • Article |

    Free-running stable optical dissipative solitons, called Nozaki–Bekki solitons, are created in a ring semiconductor laser; their spontaneous formation with tuning of laser bias eliminates the need for an external optical pump.

    • Nikola Opačak
    • , Dmitry Kazakov
    •  & Benedikt Schwarz

  • News & Views |

    Ultrathin semiconductor materials that mimic twisted layers of atoms have been used to build synchronized arrays of nanometre-scale lasers. The systems can be configured — and easily reconfigured — to form intricate patterns.

    • Liqin Tang
    •  & Zhigang Chen

  • Article |

    A reconfigurable coherent moiré nanolaser array based on optical flatbands in twisted photonic graphene lattices enables arrays with phase synchronization and high spatial and spectral coherence across a range of distinct patterns.

    • Hong-Yi Luan
    • , Yun-Hao Ouyang
    •  & Ren-Min Ma

  • News & Views |

    An innovative method uses the intrinsic attractive force between silicon surfaces that are separated by a tiny gap to engineer structures that can confine light — offering an ideal set-up for manipulating single photons.

    • Takashi Asano

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Silicon photonic nanocavities based on surface forces and conventional lithography and etching are developed, demonstrating pioneering technology that integrates atomic dimensions with the scalability of planar semiconductors.

    • Ali Nawaz Babar
    • , Thor August Schimmell Weis
    •  & Søren Stobbe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A programmable quantum processor based on encoded logical qubits operating with up to 280 physical qubits is described, in which improvement of algorithmic performance using a variety of error-correction codes is enabled.

    • Dolev Bluvstein
    • , Simon J. Evered
    •  & Mikhail D. Lukin

  • Research Briefing |

    Advanced materials engineered at the microscale have the potential to achieve unparalleled mechanical performance under extreme conditions. A laser-based characterization method enables the fast measurement of extreme properties in these materials, by extracting them from the sample’s vibrational ‘fingerprint’, without touching or permanently deforming the structure.

  • Research Briefing |

    Superconducting detectors are a leading technology for the detection of single photons, but have been limited in the number of pixels that they can offer. A 400,000-pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector camera provides an improvement by a factor of 400 compared with the current state of the art.

  • Research Briefing |

    A single chip that integrates optical and electronic analog computing modules provides a strategy for creating all-analog computing processors with a speed and energy efficiency that are several orders of magnitude higher than those of state-of-the-art digital processors.

  • Article |

    The development of a 400,000-pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector array is described, improving the current state of the art by a factor of 400 and showing scalability well beyond the present demonstration.

    • B. G. Oripov
    • , D. S. Rampini
    •  & A. N. McCaughan

  • Article |

    Measurements of thermal transport along 3C-SiC nanowires with and without a gold coating on the end(s) suggest that thermally excited surface phonon polaritons can be used in nanostructures to substantially enhance thermal conductivity.

    • Zhiliang Pan
    • , Guanyu Lu
    •  & Deyu Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An all-analog chip combining electronic and light computing achieves systemic energy efficiency of more than three orders of magnitude and a computing speed of more than one order of magnitude compared with state-of-the-art computing processors.

    • Yitong Chen
    • , Maimaiti Nazhamaiti
    •  & Qionghai Dai

  • Article |

    A scalable nanophotonic electron accelerator with a high particle acceleration gradient and good beam confinement achieves an energy gain of 43%.

    • Tomáš Chlouba
    • , Roy Shiloh
    •  & Peter Hommelhoff

  • News & Views |

    An organic light-emitting diode has been integrated with an optically driven organic laser to produce laser light from electricity. The design bypasses many of the challenges posed by direct electrical input in such devices.

    • Stéphane Kéna-Cohen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An electrically driven organic semiconductor laser is achieved by integrating a device structure that efficiently couples an organic light-emitting diode, with extremely high internal-light generation, with a polymer distributed feedback laser.

    • Kou Yoshida
    • , Junyi Gong
    •  & Ifor D. W. Samuel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Resonant X-ray excitation of the  45Sc nuclear isomeric state was achieved by irradiation of a Sc-metal foil with 12.4-keV photon pulses from a state-of-the-art X-ray free-electron laser, allowing a high-precision determination of the transition energy.

    • Yuri Shvyd’ko
    • , Ralf Röhlsberger
    •  & Tomasz Kolodziej

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