Optics and photonics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metallic nanoantennas can enhance and confine electromagnetic fields, however, localized heating hinders many applications. Here, Caldarola et al.demonstrate both high near-field enhancement and ultra-low heat conversion in the visible-near infrared region using silicon dimer nanoantennas with 20 nm gaps.

    • Martín Caldarola
    • , Pablo Albella
    •  & Stefan A. Maier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing single-particle tracking techniques are limited in terms of penetration depth, tracking range or temporal resolution. Here, Perilloet al. demonstrate three-dimensional particle tracking up to 200-μm depth, with 35-nm spatial localization and 50-μs resolution using multiplexed two-photon excitation.

    • Evan P. Perillo
    • , Yen-Liang Liu
    •  & Andrew K. Dunn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Self-assembled quantum dots are good emitters, but lack emission control prior to device fabrication. Here a photoluminescence imaging technique to characterize position and emission properties of such quantum dots is demonstrated, enabling the realization of high-performance single-photon sources.

    • Luca Sapienza
    • , Marcelo Davanço
    •  & Kartik Srinivasan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tracking and stabilizing sample drifts is crucial towards realizing nanometer resolution in superresolution microscopy; metal nanoparticles can provide drift information but diffraction remains a challenge. Here, Bonet al. combine intensity and phase information to reach three-dimensional subnanometre accuracies.

    • Pierre Bon
    • , Nicolas Bourg
    •  & Sandrine Lévêque-Fort

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Typical emitters such as molecules and quantum dots have slow spontaneous emission with lifetimes of 1–10 ns. Here, Hoang et al. have fabricated a hybrid structure of plasmonic nanopatch antennas coupled to quantum dots, achieving ultrafast spontaneous emission with a lifetime of 11 ps.

    • Thang B. Hoang
    • , Gleb M. Akselrod
    •  & Maiken H. Mikkelsen

  • Article |

    While desirable for compact solutions, the miniaturization of spectrometers comes at the cost of spectral resolution and operating range. Here, Wanet al. propose a tapered fibre multimode interference spectrometer exhibiting high spectral resolution from the visible to the near infrared in a compact configuration.

    • Noel H. Wan
    • , Fan Meng
    •  & Dirk Englund

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is considerable interest in generating broadband frequency combs at terahertz frequencies. Here, Tammaro et al.achieve this using coherent synchrotron radiation where the electron bunches emit quasi-synchronous terahertz pulses with high power, broad frequency, zero frequency offset, and high density.

    • S. Tammaro
    • , O. Pirali
    •  & G. Mouret

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrathin semiconductor metafilms can be designed to achieve near-unity absorption in specific spectral regions. Here, Kim et al. engineer nanoscale optical resonances in sub-50-nm-thick germanium nanobeams metafilms to demonstrate near-unity absorption in one or more desired wavelength regions.

    • Soo Jin Kim
    • , Pengyu Fan
    •  & Mark L. Brongersma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single indistinguishable photon sources with high flux rates and purity are needed in quantum communications. Here, Gschreyet al. use three-dimensional electron-beam lithography to pattern deterministic quantum-dot microlenses and demonstrate enhanced photon-extraction efficiency and photon indistinguishability.

    • M. Gschrey
    • , A. Thoma
    •  & S. Reitzenstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The efficiency of a single-junction photovoltaic cell is constrained by the Shockley-Queisser limit. Here, the authors adopt a triple-junction configuration which relaxes material and current-matching constraints, providing a generic strategy for advancing the efficiency roadmap of photovoltaic technologies.

    • Fei Guo
    • , Ning Li
    •  & Christoph J. Brabec

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chimera states are a class of self-organized solutions of high-dimensional networks with non-local and symmetry breaking coupling. Here the authors study the chimera patterns generated in a non-linear optical setup and uncover the transition between chimera orders as a pattern across clusters of chaoticity.

    • Laurent Larger
    • , Bogdan Penkovsky
    •  & Yuri Maistrenko

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasmonic excitations of electrons in metallic nanostructures are promising for the enhanced conversion of light in semiconductor solar cells. Here, the authors are able to experimentally distinguish the absorption phenomena of plasmonic carrier generation and excitation of carriers by light absorption.

    • Bob Y. Zheng
    • , Hangqi Zhao
    •  & Naomi J. Halas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional spectroscopy revealed oscillatory signals in photosynthesis’ exciton dynamics, but crowded spectra impede the identification of what sustains the oscillations. Here the authors probe an J-aggregate, whose uncongested response shows that vibronic coupling is responsible for the sustained coherence.

    • James Lim
    • , David Paleček
    •  & Jürgen Hauer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling light at scales smaller than its wavelength is attractive to manipulate light using small device footprints. Here, the authors propose a scheme to modify light on such small scales using a combination of metamaterial nanocavities coupled to nonlinear semiconductor heterostructures.

    • Omri Wolf
    • , Salvatore Campione
    •  & Igal Brener

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hyperbolic phonon polariton modes in natural hyperbolic materials could have uses in near-field optical imaging, guiding, and focusing applications. Here Li et al.demonstrate enlarged imaging and super-resolution focusing from a flat slab of hexagonal boron nitride enabled by hyperbolic phonon polariton modes.

    • Peining Li
    • , Martin Lewin
    •  & Thomas Taubner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical communications and quantum operations require active coupling control in closely packed integrated photonic circuits. Here, Mrejen et al.exploit adiabatic elimination to demonstrate active coupling control between two closely packed waveguides by tuning the mode index of an in-between decoupled waveguide.

    • Michael Mrejen
    • , Haim Suchowski
    •  & Xiang Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites have shown great potential for use in optoelectronic applications. Here, the authors create solution-processed lead iodide perovskite light-emitting field-effect transistors and demonstrate both ambipolar behaviour and gate-assisted electroluminescence.

    • Xin Yu Chin
    • , Daniele Cortecchia
    •  & Cesare Soci

  • Article |

    Optical tweezing typically refers to the trapping and manipulation of particles using lasers. Here, Jang et al. demonstrate analogous manipulation of ultrashort cavity soliton-pulses in the time domain, trapped by the phase modulation of a continuous wave laser beam, and moved by modifying the phase profile.

    • Jae K. Jang
    • , Miro Erkintalo
    •  & Stuart G. Murdoch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical metrology applications require lasers with high spectral purity but on-chip devices with sub-100 Hz linewidth are yet to be realized. Here, Liang et al.present a heterogeneously integrated, chip-scale semiconductor laser with 30 Hz integral linewidth and sub-Hz instantaneous linewidth.

    • W. Liang
    • , V. S. Ilchenko
    •  & L. Maleki

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Laser-induced electron diffraction can provide structural information on gas-phase molecules with high spatial and temporal resolution. Going beyond previous diatomic cases, Pullen et al.apply this approach to acetylene and show that it can be used to measure bond lengths for polyatomic molecules.

    • Michael G. Pullen
    • , Benjamin Wolter
    •  & Jens Biegert

  • Article |

    Phase-change materials are a route to high-density data storage, but changes in their properties in time are a limiting factor. Here, the authors combine numerical simulations, photothermal deflection spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy experiments to investigate the aging process in germanium telluride.

    • Jean Yves Raty
    • , Wei Zhang
    •  & Matthias Wuttig

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the mechanism of ionic transport in organic–inorganic halide perovskites is crucial for the design of future solar cells. Here, Eames et al.undertake a combined experimental and computational study to elucidate the ion conducting species and help rationalize the unusual behaviour observed in these perovskite-based devices.

    • Christopher Eames
    • , Jarvist M. Frost
    •  & M. Saiful Islam

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Black phosphorus is an atomically thin material that exhibits excellent properties for electronics applications, but these degrade in atmospheric conditions. Here, the authors demonstrate the fabrication of stable, ultra-clean and high-mobility black phosphorus sandwiched between the layers of boron nitride.

    • Xiaolong Chen
    • , Yingying Wu
    •  & Ning Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Natural dispersion forces acting between molecules and particles arise from electromagnetic fields generated by quantum and thermal fluctuations. Here, Brügger et al.show that isotropic dispersion forces between colloidal particles can be induced, controlled and tuned with artificial, fluctuating laser light fields.

    • Georges Brügger
    • , Luis S. Froufe-Pérez
    •  & Juan José Sáenz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Periodically strained monolayer molybdenum disulphide funnels photogenerated electron-hole pairs across an electric field induced by a spatially graded band gap, mimicking a crystal of artificial atoms. Here, the authors experimentally demonstrate the artificial crystal in strain-textured molybdenum disulphide.

    • Hong Li
    • , Alex W. Contryman
    •  & Xiaolin Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Time delays in feedback loops and connections in dynamical systems and complex networks can depend on the state of the system, but these state-dependent delays are poorly understood. Here, the authors use a photonic system to characterize the switching between two loops with different delay times.

    • Jade Martínez-Llinàs
    • , Xavier Porte
    •  & Ingo Fischer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water splitting using earth-abundant materials promises a low cost solution to the problem of large scale energy storage. Here, the authors fabricate a haematite and silicon-based high-efficiency water splitting device, which operates without the need for an externally applied bias.

    • Ji-Wook Jang
    • , Chun Du
    •  & Dunwei Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Smart shape-memory polymers based on pressure stimuli have potential biomedical and aerospace applications but are largely unexplored. Here, Fang et al.present a reconfigurable photonic crystal that is reprogrammed at ambient conditions by a pressure-responsive shape-memory polymer.

    • Yin Fang
    • , Yongliang Ni
    •  & Peng Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chlorine incorporation into CH3NH3PbI3improves solar cell performance, but its optoelectronic role is still unclear. Here the authors present a strategy that decouples the morphological impact, to reveal that chlorine incorporation affects carrier transport across the heterojunction interface rather than within the perovskite crystal.

    • Qi Chen
    • , Huanping Zhou
    •  & Yang Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial photosynthesis is a means of harnessing solar energy to generate fuels but has traditionally been exploited for the generation of hydrogen. Here, Schreier et al. instead employ a perovskite photovoltaic device to effect the solar conversion of CO2to CO with high efficiency.

    • Marcel Schreier
    • , Laura Curvat
    •  & Michael Grätzel

  • Article |

    The interaction between light and molecules can lead to hybrid quantum-physical states of light and matter. Here, the authors demonstrate one such effect, spatial modulation of light, with the protein photosystem I as a first demonstration of this quantum effect with such a biological molecule.

    • Itai Carmeli
    • , Moshik Cohen
    •  & Shachar Richter

  • Article |

    Recent experiments with plasmonic nanostructures have found phenomena that cannot be explained classically, necessitating new theoretical models. Toscano et al. present a self-consistent hydrodynamic theory that describes both the nonlocal response and the electronic spill-out for noble and simple metals.

    • Giuseppe Toscano
    • , Jakob Straubel
    •  & Martijn Wubs

  • Article
    | Open Access

    STED nanoscopy enables sub-diffraction imaging with a wide range of fluorescent probes. Here, the authors show that a bright and very photostable class of fluorescent quantum dots can be super-resolved with STED as biolabels in cellular contexts.

    • Janina Hanne
    • , Henning J. Falk
    •  & Stefan W. Hell

  • Article |

    High-density integration will be vital for silicon photonics, but as we approach sub-wavelength distances between components, the crosstalk becomes intolerable. Here, Song et al. demonstrate waveguide integration at a half-wavelength pitch with low crosstalk using advanced superlattice design concepts.

    • Weiwei Song
    • , Robert Gatdula
    •  & Wei Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Graphene has demonstrated the ability to modulate terahertz (THz) waves by optical or electrical excitation, but modulation depths have been low. Here, Li et al. demonstrate enhanced modulation and polarity-dependent THz attenuation using external voltage bias and photoexcitation on a graphene–silicon film.

    • Quan Li
    • , Zhen Tian
    •  & Weili Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional sheets of zeolites can function as molecular sieves for applications such as membranes or as catalysts. Here, the authors demonstrate a method using electron diffraction patterns to accurately measure the thickness and wrinkles of thin zeolite nanosheets.

    • Prashant Kumar
    • , Kumar Varoon Agrawal
    •  & K. Andre Mkhoyan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metal halide perovskites are promising for solar energy harvesting, but currently prone to a large hysteresis and current instability. Here, Xu et al. show improvements in a hybrid material in which the fullerene is distributed at perovskite grain boundaries and thus passivates defects effectively.

    • Jixian Xu
    • , Andrei Buin
    •  & Edward H. Sargent

  • Article |

    Graphene’s exotic properties make it suitable for many different optoelectronic devices. Brar et al. show that graphene plasmonic resonators can be exploited to produce narrow spectral emission in the mid-infrared, whose frequency and intensity can be modulated by electrostatic gating.

    • Victor W. Brar
    • , Michelle C. Sherrott
    •  & Harry A. Atwater

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Purcell effect predicts a spontaneous emission rate enhancement of several orders of magnitude, but experimental demonstrations have been much lower. Here, Song et al. show emission enhancement of Er3+ions in a metallic nanocavity with a 170 Purcell factor at room temperature and 55% extraction efficiency.

    • Jung-Hwan Song
    • , Jisu Kim
    •  & Yong-Hee Lee

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