Optics and photonics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coherent Stokes Raman scattering (CSRS) has never been explored previously for chemical imaging due to a strong fluorescence background. Here, the authors demonstrate the first fluorescence-free CSRS laser scanning microscope and predict CSRS’ unique backscattering properties.

    • Sandro Heuke
    •  & Hervé Rigneault

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors propose for the first time the concept of supervised-evolving learning (SEL) and a corresponding SEL-driven adaptive focusing (SELAF) system. This metasurface can adaptively realize focusing at any specified position for waves incident from any direction. This work demonstrates unprecedented potential for tasks involving real-time, fast and complex electromagnetic wave manipulation.

    • Huan Lu
    • , Jiwei Zhao
    •  & Hongsheng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Traditional 2D cell culture platforms do not accurately reflect the physiology of human tumors. Here, authors combine bioprinting and high-speed live cell interferometry with machine learning to measure drug sensitivity at single-organoid resolution in a label-free manner.

    • Peyton J. Tebon
    • , Bowen Wang
    •  & Alice Soragni

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical singularities are typically 1D structures like vortices. This study used metasurfaces to position ten identical point singularities with tight confinement. This could miniaturize optical systems for super-resolution microscopy and dark traps.

    • Soon Wei Daniel Lim
    • , Joon-Suh Park
    •  & Federico Capasso

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors propose a confocal complemented signal-object collaborative regularization method for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) imaging without specific requirements on the spatial pattern of measurement points. The method extends the application range of NLOS imaging.

    • Xintong Liu
    • , Jianyu Wang
    •  & Lingyun Qiu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Topological semimetals can host coexisting higher-order topological nodes that may enable unique physical properties. Here, based on these topological principles, authors design and experimentally realise simultaneous massive and massless chiral quasiparticles in a photonic microring lattice.

    • Zihe Gao
    • , Haoqi Zhao
    •  & Liang Feng

  • 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

    Creating compact, lightweight and powerful optics that work well under visible light has been challenging. Here, the authors 3D print optically transparent polymers inside nanoporous glass in order to densely integrate refractive and diffractive elements, forming thin, high-performance hybrid achromatic imaging micro-optics.

    • Corey A. Richards
    • , Christian R. Ocier
    •  & Paul V. Braun

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultracold atoms are generated in the lab using optical trapping and cooling. Here the authors implement a fiber-coupled photonic integrated circuit for a beam delivery to a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap where greater than 1 million rubidium atoms are cooled near 200 μK.

    • Andrei Isichenko
    • , Nitesh Chauhan
    •  & Daniel J. Blumenthal

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Illuminating internal organs and tissues with high controllability and adaptability remains challenging. Here the authors present a flexible, biodegradable photonic device called iCarP for large area, high intensity, wide spectrum, deeply penetrating, continuous or pulsatile illumination.

    • Kaicheng Deng
    • , Yao Tang
    •  & Yang Zhu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study presents a deep learning pipeline to automatically locate and count large herds of migratory ungulates (wildebeest and zebra) in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem using fine resolution satellite imagery. The results achieve accurate detection of nearly 500,000 individuals across thousands of square kilometers and multiple habitat types.

    • Zijing Wu
    • , Ce Zhang
    •  & Tiejun Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phototunable full-color circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) features large storage density which is important for the field of information encryption and decryption. Here, the authors present a device-friendly solid film with color-tunability by employing Förster resonance energy transfer among a chiral donor and achiral molecular switches in a liquid crystal photonic capsules.

    • Siyang Lin
    • , Yuqi Tang
    •  & Quan Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In most optical computing schemes, the size of the chip increases quadratically with the problem size. Here, the authors demonstrate an architecture for optical convolutional neural networks which, while losing the independent reconfigurability of the kernels, allows for linear scaling of the circuit size.

    • Xiangyan Meng
    • , Guojie Zhang
    •  & Ming Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hybrid photonic–electronic systems are essential for high-throughput neuromorphic computing. Here, the authors report an in-memory photonic–electronic dot-product engine with decoupled electronic programming of the phase-change memory cells and parallel photonic computation with high-bit operation, low energy consumption, and high accuracy.

    • Wen Zhou
    • , Bowei Dong
    •  & Harish Bhaskaran

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A new form of directional polaritons, leaky in nature and featuring lenticular dispersion contours, is experimentally observed both in near-field and through prism excitation, unveiling opportunities stemming from the interplay of extreme anisotropic responses, light confinement and directional radiation leakage.

    • Xiang Ni
    • , Giulia Carini
    •  & Andrea Alù

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multi-frame super-resolution microscopy is hampered by long acquisition times and phototoxicity, which hinder its use for live-cell imaging. Here, authors propose a deep-learning-based single-frame super-resolution approach to image cellular dynamics with high spatiotemporal resolution.

    • Rong Chen
    • , Xiao Tang
    •  & Shuhuai Yao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spontaneous Raman scattering is classically understood as an incoherent process. Here, the authors demonstrate that macroscopic quantum coherence among billions of vibrating molecules in a liquid is generated when single photon detection and single spatio-temporal mode excitation are implemented.

    • Valeria Vento
    • , Santiago Tarrago Velez
    •  & Christophe Galland

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Periodic perturbations and guided mode engineering into Brillouin zone folding-induced bound states in the continuum resulted in ultrahigh Q factors that are both robust and sustainable across a broad range of tunable momentum space.

    • Wenhao Wang
    • , Yogesh Kumar Srivastava
    •  & Ranjan Singh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Boosting conversion efficiency, coherence and spectral bandwidth of optical signals generated in integrated photonic devices is an important current challenge. Here, the authors present their observations of two-colour dissipative solitons, breathers and frequency combs resulting from second-harmonic generation in lithium-niobate ring microresonators.

    • Juanjuan Lu
    • , Danila N. Puzyrev
    •  & Hong X. Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors show computationally optimized, multilayer scattering structures in the mid-infrared for high efficiency imaging. Multispectral and polarization sorting devices are fabricated via two-photon lithography and characterized optically.

    • Gregory Roberts
    • , Conner Ballew
    •  & Andrei Faraon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Emission enhancement and extraction from quantum emitters is a major challenge for photon sources in e.g. quantum photonic networks. Here the authors propose a broadband waveguide platform which allows to boost, extract, and guide quantum emission within integrated photonic networks.

    • Nicholas A. Güsken
    • , Ming Fu
    •  & Rupert F. Oulton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In-plane hyperbolic phonon polaritons in α-MoO3 crystals hold promise for terahertz (THz) and longwave infrared (LWIR) photonic applications, but their coupling with far-field excitations remains challenging. Here, the authors report the fabrication of α-MoO3 ribbon arrays that can be applied as tunable THz and LWIR filters and polarizers.

    • Wuchao Huang
    • , Thomas G. Folland
    •  & Shaozhi Deng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Authors investigate quasi-2D nanoscale emitters on different substrates with tapping mode tip-enhanced spectroscopy. They visualize in-plane near-field and radiative energy propagation via Surface plasmon polaritons launched by the nanoscale emitters on dielectric/Au or SiO2/Si substrates.

    • Kiyoung Jo
    • , Emanuele Marino
    •  & Deep Jariwala

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This work presents ultracompact and low-power laser beam scanners using microcantilevers embedded with nanophotonic circuits. These chip-scale devices are made in a semiconductor foundry and project visible light patterns in one or two dimensions.

    • Saeed Sharif Azadeh
    • , Jason C. C. Mak
    •  & Joyce K. S. Poon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multimodal cognitive computing task is an important research content in the field of AI. Here, the authors propose an efficient sensory memory processing system, which can process sensory information and generate synapse-like and multiwavelength light-emitting output for efficient multimodal information recognition.

    • Liuting Shan
    • , Qizhen Chen
    •  & Huipeng Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A new polarization structure of light is synthesized in a straightforward and robust way. The light field is probed using a levitated nanoparticle as a sensor. Optical angular momentum is used to control the particle in a novel way, with applications in sensing and quantum optomechanics.

    • Yanhui Hu
    • , Jack J. Kingsley-Smith
    •  & James Millen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors have realized a programmable incoherent optical neural network that delivers light-speed, high-bandwidth, and power-efficient neural network inference via processing parallel visible light signals in the free space.

    • Yuchi Huo
    • , Hujun Bao
    •  & Sung-Eui Yoon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D semiconductors with nonlinear optical properties hold promise for multifunction integration in electronic-photonic integrated circuits. Here, the authors report the synthesis of 2D SnP2Se6 and its integration with a SiN photonic platform, showing strong odd-even layer-independent second harmonic generation activity at 1550 nm and broadband photoresponse.

    • Cheng-Yi Zhu
    • , Zimeng Zhang
    •  & Cheng-Yan Xu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In time-resolved measurements it is crucial to know the time delay between the exciting and probing light pulses. Here the authors demonstrate a self-referencing common-path interferometer method measuring the arrival time between the X-ray free electron laser and the optical pulse to the target and thus their inherent timing jitter.

    • Michael Diez
    • , Henning Kirchberg
    •  & Christian Bressler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lead halide perovskites host bright triplet excitons which have applications in optospintronic devices. Here the authors observe quantum coherence between exciton sublevels without magnetic field and clarify the mechanisms of exciton spin relaxation in ensembles of CsPbBr3 nanocrystals.

    • Rui Cai
    • , Indrajit Wadgaonkar
    •  & Tze Chien Sum

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors present a method for super-resolution quantum microscopy at the Heisenberg limit by using pairs of entangled photons with balanced pathlengths. They improve the spatial resolution, imaging speed, and contrast-to-noise ratio in practice while providing a theoretical interpretation of the super-resolution feature.

    • Zhe He
    • , Yide Zhang
    •  & Lihong V. Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exciton-polaritons present opportunities for quantum photonics, next generation qubits, and tuning material photophysics. Here Laitz et al. study the temperature dependence of 2D perovskite microcavity polaritons, revealing material-specific relaxation mechanisms towards the control of polariton momentum.

    • Madeleine Laitz
    • , Alexander E. K. Kaplan
    •  & Vladimir Bulović

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Realising integrated photonic circuits containing isolated telecommunications-wavelength artificial atom single photon emitters is an outstanding challenge in quantum technologies. Here, the authors demonstrate how to embed optically tunable G-centers in silicon-on-insulator integrated circuits.

    • Mihika Prabhu
    • , Carlos Errando-Herranz
    •  & Dirk Englund

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