Optics and photonics articles within Nature Communications

Here, the authors find the missing link for soliton microcombs that exist at the boundary where the group velocity dispersion of light changes sign: zero-dispersion solitons. The resulting microresonator frequency comb, based in Si3N4, spans almost an octave.

Rapid investigation of chemical reactions is a challenge in bio-medical analysis. Here, the authors demonstrate sensitive in-situ real-time reaction-monitoring of conformational changes in protein solution, based on a fingertip-sized mid-IR lab-on-a-chip.

Here, the authors report tunable luminescence from a single lanthanide ion upon changing excitation conditions through co-doping an energy-modulator ion, thus adjusting the photon transition process of the lanthanide activator ion. Optical encryption has also been demonstrated as an application of this universal strategy.

This paper reports an experimental observation of irrotational, inviscid, and incompressible electromagnetic power flow within an epsilon-near-zero medium, exhibiting an analogy to an ideal fluid.

Continuous-variable QKD protocols are usually easier to implement than discrete-variables ones, but their security analyses are less developed. Here, the authors propose and demonstrate in the lab a CVQKD protocol that can generate composable keys secure against collective attacks.

Free-electron lasers are capable of high repetition rates and it is assumed that protein crystals often do not survive the first X-ray pulse. Here the authors address these issues with a demonstration of multi-hit serial crystallography in which multiple FEL pulses interact with the sample without destroying it.

Light sheet microscopes reduce phototoxicity and background while improving imaging speed compared to widefield and confocal microscopes. Here the authors quantify the differences between Gaussian and lattice light sheets using simulations and experimental data in fixed and live cells.

Nanoscale emitters are useful for measuring biomolecular interactions, but are limited by weak signals. Here, the authors use a photonic crystal surface for 3000-fold signal enhancement, achieving single emitter sensitivity with extended on-time, and demonstrate its application in miRNA biomarker sensing.

Propagation-invariant wave packets confined in space and time can be useful for optical sensing, imaging, and nonlinear and quantum optics. Here the authors demonstrate control over the angular dispersion of optical wave packets in two-transverse dimensions to synthesize space-time wave packets localized in all dimensions.

Mid-infrared polarization-sensitive photodetectors are desired for several applications, such as chemical analysis and biomedical diagnosis. Here, the authors report on-chip polarimeters based on the combination of plasmonic chiral metamaterials and 2D thermoelectric materials, showing tunable full-Stokes detection of linearly and circularly polarized light at room temperature.

Polarization control is of paramount importance for various applications. Here, the authors enable extreme control over light polarization spanning the entire Poincaré sphere by combining coherent control of wave phenomena and the physics of bound states in the continuum.

Here, the authors demonstrate a chip-scale device that realizes a comprehensive set of resonant second order nonlinear processes including optical parametric oscillation with a threshold power of 70 microwatts.

The spatial configuration of nanostructure building blocks determines the physical and optical properties of their superstructures. Here, the authors report on complex nanoparticles in which different geometric forms of nanoframes are nested into a single entity by multistep chemical reactions.

Phonon polaritons in anisotropic van der Waals materials enable subwavelength confinement and controllable flow of light at the nanoscale. Here, the authors exploit correlated perovskite oxide (SmNiO₃) substrates with tunable conductivity to obtain real-time modulation and nanoscale reconfiguration of hyperbolic polaritons in hBN and α-MoO₃ crystals.

Next generation smart lighting requires high colour rendering and wide colour controllability. Here, Jung et al. realise, via a systematic colour optimisation and a computational charge transport simulation, white quantum dot light-emitting diodes with high colour performance.

Lensless fibre endoscopes are minimally invasive, but are often rigid and require calibration and fluorescence labelling. Here, the authors present a flexible endoscope based on a bare fibre bundle and a lensless Fourier holographic imaging configuration to detect weak reflections from unstained biological tissues.

Optoacoustic imaging is mostly performed in the time domain. Here the authors demonstrate frequency wavelength multiplexed optoacoustic tomography that can operate at multiple wavelengths simultaneously and offers signal-to-noise ratio advantages over time domain methods.

Chemical functionalization of the sidewalls of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is an emerging route to introduce fluorescent quantum defects and tailor the emission properties. Here, authors demonstrate that spin-selective photochemistry diversifies SWCNT emission tunability by controlling the morphology of the emitting sites.

The current main source of errors for photonic quantum logic gates is the imperfections of the single photons. Here, by using high-quality photons from Rydberg atoms, the authors are able to reach 99.7% entangling gate fidelity in a photonic CNOT gate.

Advanced security applications require materials responsive to different stimuli with remarkable stability. Here, Sargent et al. introduce Ge homogenously into a silica scaffold and obtain a colourtuned germanium silicon oxide with ultra-long phosphorescence and delayed fluorescence across a broad temperature range.

The nonlinear evolution dynamics in topological photonic lattices is systematically investigated within the framework of optical thermodynamics. This approach allows for the precise prediction of topological currents even under the extreme complexity introduced by nonlinearity.

Wave-matter interaction suffers from fundamental limit to scattering cross section, referred to as the single-channel scattering limit. Here, the authors break this limit by exploiting gain metasurfaces and reveal the transient formation and relaxation of this phenomenon.

Full tomography of biphoton frequency comb states requires frequency mixing operations which are hard to scale. Here, the authors propose and demonstrate a protocol exploiting advanced Bayesian statistical methods and randomized measurements coming from complex mode mixing in electro-optic phase modulators.

There is a need to control molecular activities at high spatial precision. Here the authors report a real-time precision opto-control technology that detects a chemical-specific optical response from molecular targets, and precisely control photoswitchable microtubule polymerization inhibitors in cells.

Here, the authors develop a UV-compatible photonic integrated circuit for structured illumination microscopy on a conventional wide-field microscope. Operating at a wavelength of 360 nm, they generate switchable far-field fringe patterns, and demonstrate autofluorescence imaging of yeast cells.

A dielectric metalens consisting of ultrahigh aspect ratio TiO₂ nanofins array is demonstrated to realize active multiband varifocal functionality. By regulating the orbital angular momentum, the focal length can be switched from 5 mm to 35 mm with large DOFs.

The work harnesses principles of spatial state tomography to fully characterise an optical beam in space, time, spectrum, and polarisation. Analysis of the output of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser illustrates the technique’s capabilities.

Valley depolarization processes in 2D transition metal dichalcogenides have been linked to acoustic phonons, but optical verification is ambiguous, due to the nearly degenerate acoustic phonon frequencies at the zone-edge. Here, the authors determine the phonon momentum of the longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonons at the K point as responsible for the ultrafast valley depolarization in monolayer MoSe₂.

The spectroscopic signatures of excess protons in HCl solutions are studied by ab initio simulations and THz experiments. Two contributions beyond the normal-mode scenario are identified that reflect proton-waiting and proton-transfer processes.

Deep learning techniques usually require a large quantity of training data and may be challenging for scarce datasets. The authors propose a framework that involves contrastive and transfer learning and reduces data requirements for training while keeping the prediction accuracy.

Charge carrier mobility is a fundamental property of semiconductors. The authors of this study demonstrate a novel way to estimate long-range mobilities of perovskite thin-films and single crystals by taking early-time carrier dynamics into account.

Hybrid light-matter states formed in the strong light-matter coupling regime can alter the molecular ground-state reactivity. Here, Li et al. computationally demonstrate that pumping a collection of solvent molecules forming hybrid vibrational light-matter states in an optical cavity can excite solute molecules to very high excited states.

The authors fabricate a 3D achromatic diffractive metalens on the end face of a single-mode fiber, useful for endoscopic applications. They demonstrate achromatic and polarization insensitive focusing across the entire near-infrared telecommunication wavelength band ranging from 1.25 to 1.65 µm.

Artificial muscle actuators enabled by responsive functional materials like shape memory alloys are promising candidates for compact e-wearable devices. Here, authors demonstrate augmented reality glasses and two-way communication haptic gloves capable of image depth control and immersive tactile response.

Continuous spectral translation could allow expansion of the bandwidth available for communication without having to develop transceivers for the new bands. Here, the authors demonstrate this using AlGaAsOI nanowaveguides as spectral translators between the mature telecom C band and the 2-μm wavelength band.

Here, the authors employ the physics of chiral bound states in the continuum and suggest planar chiral metasurfaces with simultaneous ultrahigh quality factor and near-perfect circular dichroism in both linear regime and nonlinear regime.

Tip-enhanced vibrational spectroscopy at room temperature is complicated by molecular conformational dynamics, photobleaching, contaminations, and chemical reactions in air. This study demonstrates that a sub-nm protective layer of Al₂O₃ provides robust conditions for probing single-molecule conformations.

The authors demonstrate an approach for imaging moving objects through a tortuous corridor filled with a random media. Their reduced spatial- and ensemble-speckle intensity correlation method allows for reconstruction of centimeter-sized hidden object with sub-millimeter resolution.

Using 3D-printed two-wire plasmonic circuits, the authors demonstrate add-drop THz multiplexers featuring a grating-loaded side coupler design. They confirm the channel Drop, Add, and Through actions using ~6 Gbps data streams at ~140 GHz carrier frequency.

Spintronic terahertz (THz) emitters are a class of magnetic heterostructure where femtosecond laser excitations generate THz radiation emission. While they have great potential, electric field control of spintronic emitter remains a challenge. Here, by combining a spintronic emitter with a piezoelectric substrate, Agarwal et al. demonstrate electric field control of THz emission through induced piezostrain.

Diagnosis of gastric cancer currently requires gastroscopic biopsy, which requires time and expertize to perform. Here, the authors demonstrate a femto-SRS imaging method which showed high accuracy in diagnosing gastric cancer without the need for pathologistbased diagnosis.

While most of the structural colored materials only present isotropic colors, limiting their functions and many practical applications, while realizing anisotropic structural color materials remains challenging. Here, the authors develop a freeze-derived heterogeneous structural color hydrogels for information encryption and decryption.

Here, the authors demonstrate a blind and sparse near-field array signal processing approach to enhance the measurement quality of fibre-optic distributed acoustic sensors. It further enables the accurate estimation of the spatial coordinates of acoustic sources.

Making Bohmian mechanics fully compatible with special relativity is still an ongoing challenge. Here, the authors make a further step in this direction by providing a way of constructing the relativistic Bohmian-type velocity field of single photons which is operationally based on weak measurements.

It remains unclear whether transverse orbital angular momentum beams can maintain OAM values above 1. Here the authors demonstrate the generation of beams with transverse OAM up to 100 by the inverse design of phase and find an intrinsic dispersion factor to describe the nontrivial evolution of such beams.

Silicon core fibre is a highly nonlinear waveguide that combines the benefits of both fibre and planar waveguide systems. Here, the authors demonstrate frequency comb generation using a fully-fibre integrated silicon core fibre as a nonlinear mixer.

Single molecules can generate high-quality single photons for quantum technologies, but coupling to waveguides is difficult. Here, the authors show on-chip background-free resonance fluorescence generation and routing from single molecules with lifetime-limited transition and waveguide-aligned dipoles.

The authors achieved the X-ray-excited organic phosphorescent scintillation from copolymers through copolymerization of bromine-substituted chromophores and acrylic acid and demonstrated their potential application in X-ray radiography.

Mid-infrared photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are important for sensing and optical communications, but their operational wavelengths are usually limited below 4 μm. Here, the authors report the realization of photothermoelectric graphene photodetectors incorporated in a chalcogenide glass-on-CaF2 PIC operating at 5.2 μm, showing promising results for gas sensing applications.