Optics and photonics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    Molybdenum disulphide is a two-dimensional material that, unlike graphene, has a nonzero bandgap. Here, the authors demonstrate that the bandgap of single-layer molybdenum disulphide grown on graphite by chemical vapour deposition changes with distance from the grain boundary

    • Yu Li Huang
    • , Yifeng Chen
    •  & Andrew T. S. Wee

  • Article |

    Imaging live cells at nanometre resolution is challenging because radiation damage kills the cells during exposure. Here, the authors overcome this difficulty in a ‘diffraction before destruction’ experiment using an X-ray laser and record signal to 4 nm resolution on a free-flying cell.

    • Gijs van der Schot
    • , Martin Svenda
    •  & Tomas Ekeberg

  • Article |

    Concentrating photovoltaics (PVs) offer a route to lower the cost of solar power, but their scale has been incompatible with roof top installation. Here, Price et al.demonstrate quasi-static concentrating PVs that achieve >200 × flux concentration over a full day in the form factor of a standard PV panel.

    • Jared S. Price
    • , Xing Sheng
    •  & Noel C. Giebink

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Stimulated Brillouin scattering is a non-linear interaction that allows light to be stored as coherent acoustic waves. Here, the authors report on Brillouin scattering-induced transparency in an optical microresonator whose high quality allows for long-lifetime non-reciprocal light storage.

    • Chun-Hua Dong
    • , Zhen Shen
    •  & Guang-Can Guo

  • Article |

    Single-pixel imaging can capture a scene without a direct line of sight to the object but high-quality imaging has proven challenging. Here, by acquiring their Fourier spectrum, Zhang et al. demonstrate indirect, high-quality single-pixel imaging in the presence of noisy environmental illumination.

    • Zibang Zhang
    • , Xiao Ma
    •  & Jingang Zhong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High-field physics experiments are often plagued by noise in the driving laser, which remains poorly characterized. Ma et al. study the noise in a pulse stretcher and compressor system in the spatiotemporal domain and find that noise from the stretcher elements governs the pulse contrast at the laser focus.

    • Jingui Ma
    • , Peng Yuan
    •  & Liejia Qian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Kinetic theory is a mathematical framework that is used to describe non-linear systems with a large number of degrees of freedom. Here, the authors develop a concept of active wave kinetics of cyclic systems and describe the function of random fibre laser.

    • D V. Churkin
    • , I V. Kolokolov
    •  & S K. Turitsyn

  • Article |

    Although synthesis of high-quality MoS2 has been demonstrated, growth of monolayer MoS2at controlled locations is highly desirable for applications. Here, the authors introduce a method where patterned seeds of molybdenum source material are used to grow isolated flakes at predetermined locations.

    • Gang Hee Han
    • , Nicholas J. Kybert
    •  & A. T. Charlie Johnson

  • Article |

    Nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond have established themselves as excellent candidates for solid-state quantum memories due to their optical addressability and long coherence times. Here, the authors report on a diamond-nanocavity system with improved spin-photon interface performances.

    • Luozhou Li
    • , Tim Schröder
    •  & Dirk Englund

  • Article |

    The detection of high-frequency radiation emitted by a quantum conductor is promising but current approaches exhibit limited sensitivity. Here, Jompol et al. propose on-chip radiation detection based on photo-assisted shot noise and show the response to be independent of the nature and geometry of the quantum conductor.

    • Y. Jompol
    • , P. Roulleau
    •  & D. C. Glattli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-cycle and sub-cycle field transients are typically generated by external pulse compression where a combination of nonlinear broadening followed up by dispersion compensation is used. Here, Balciunas et al. use self-compression in a Kagome fibre to generate phase-controlled single-cycle pulses.

    • T. Balciunas
    • , C. Fourcade-Dutin
    •  & F. Benabid

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Few-femtosecond synchronization at free-electron lasers is key for nearly all experimental applications, stable operation and future light source development. Here, Schulz et al. demonstrate all-optical synchronization of the soft X-ray FEL FLASH to better than 30 fs and illustrate a pathway to sub-10 fs.

    • S. Schulz
    • , I. Grguraš
    •  & A. L. Cavalieri

  • Article |

    Atomic spectroscopy is typically based on multipole atom-field interactions that obey established selection rules. Using Rydberg atoms as an example, Moore et al. show that the quadratic (ponderomotive) interaction can provide both more flexible selection rules and greater spatial addressability.

    • Kaitlin R. Moore
    • , Sarah E. Anderson
    •  & Georg Raithel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The optoelectronic properties of semiconducting polymers are controlled by altering chemical structure and/or inter-chain order. Perevedentsev et al. propose a nanopatterning approach whereby the geometry of polymer chain segments is modified to engineer metamaterial structures for visible light.

    • Aleksandr Perevedentsev
    • , Yannick Sonnefraud
    •  & Donal D. C. Bradley

  • Article |

    Photochromic Förster resonance energy transfer endows nanosensors with photoswitchable fluorescence properties. Diaz et al. present a system with two photostationary end states, one of which exhibits constant quenching of the quantum dot donor independent of its mean distance to the photochromic acceptors.

    • Sebastián A. Díaz
    • , Florencia Gillanders
    •  & Thomas M. Jovin

  • Article |

    Replica symmetry breaking, in which identical systems subject to identical conditions evolve to different end states, has been predicted to occur in many contexts but has yet to be observed experimentally. Ghofraniha et al.report evidence for its occurrence in the pulse-to-pulse variations of a random laser.

    • N. Ghofraniha
    • , I. Viola
    •  & C. Conti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The internal structure of materials determines many of their physical and mechanical properties. Here, the authors have developed a non-destructive X-ray microscopy technique for layer-by-layer mapping of crystallographic orientations and stresses to obtain a three-dimensional reconstruction of a material.

    • H. Simons
    • , A. King
    •  & H. F. Poulsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coherent coupling of light with electronic transitions has led to phenomena such as polariton lasing and superfluidity. Shalabney et al.now couple the optical modes of micro-cavity to the vibrational modes of a molecule at room temperature and thereby alter the chemical behaviour of the molecule.

    • A. Shalabney
    • , J. George
    •  & T. W. Ebbesen

  • Article |

    Solution-processed blue lasers are used in many applications such as spectroscopy or material processing. Here, the authors demonstrate a borane solution-based blue laser that offers a high efficiency and a photostability that is superior to commercial laser dyes.

    • Luis Cerdán
    • , Jakub Braborec
    •  & Michael G. S. Londesborough

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Performing radio-frequency arbitrary waveform generation in the optical domain offers advantages over electronic-based methods but suffers from lack of integration and slow speed. Here, Wang et al. propose a fast-reconfigurable, radio-frequency arbitrary waveform generator fully integrated in a silicon chip.

    • Jian Wang
    • , Hao Shen
    •  & Minghao Qi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical methods allow for the excitation of diverse magnetic phenomena in nanostructured materials. Here, Uchida et al. demonstrate how pure spin current may be generated across a Pt/BiY2Fe5O12thin film interface by optically exciting surface plasmon resonance in embedded gold nanoparticles.

    • K. Uchida
    • , H. Adachi
    •  & E. Saitoh

  • Article |

    The nonlinear dynamic interaction between optical comb frequencies and microresonator modes are not yet fully understood. Here, the authors demonstrate a method to characterize microcomb states and observe discrete phase steps that have not been observed in conventional frequency combs.

    • Pascal Del’Haye
    • , Aurélien Coillet
    •  & Scott A. Diddams

  • Article |

    Directive and scannable radiation patterns beyond the microwave region are desirable but leaky-wave antennas in the terahertz and optical range are unavailable. Here, Memarian and Eleftheriades demonstrate continuously scanned leaky-wave radiation from the interface of a photonic crystal with a Dirac-type dispersion.

    • Mohammad Memarian
    •  & George V. Eleftheriades

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Advances in low-light-level imaging techniques have shown that imaging in the one photon per pixel regime is possible. Here, Morris et al. demonstrate high-quality image reconstruction using ghost and heralded imaging with less than one photon per image pixel with a time-gated intensified camera.

    • Peter A. Morris
    • , Reuben S. Aspden
    •  & Miles J. Padgett

  • Article |

    In nonlinear optical systems, self-localized bistable packets of light exist as controllable intensity pulses in the longitudinal or transverse dimension. Here, Garbin et al. experimentally demonstrate the existence of localized longitudinal states existing in the phase of laser light.

    • Bruno Garbin
    • , Julien Javaloyes
    •  & Stéphane Barland

  • Article |

    Halide perovskites are widely studied as components in photovoltaic cells. Here, the authors show that these materials also possess a tunable ferroelectric polarization as well as relativistic spin-splitting effects suggesting additional functionalities, for example, as spintronic and optoelectronic devices.

    • Alessandro Stroppa
    • , Domenico Di Sante
    •  & Silvia Picozzi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quadrature amplitude modulation signalling is currently enabling rapid data transfer capacity growth, but it still has associated drawbacks. Here, Liu et al.use optical injection locking to generate complex modulation format signals with reduced consumption, small footprint and easy integration.

    • Zhixin Liu
    • , Joseph Kakande
    •  & Radan Slavík

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Various vertical surface emitting, terahertz quantum-cascade lasers have been proposed recently but these suffer from power cancellations in the far-field and limited extraction efficiencies. Here, Vitiello et al.circumvent these issues using two-dimensional photonic quasi-crystalline resonators.

    • Miriam Serena Vitiello
    • , Michele Nobile
    •  & A. Giles Davies

  • Article |

    Two-dimensional photocurrent spectroscopy can identify coherent electronic dynamics and offers promise for studies of numerous material systems. Karki et al. now show that the method can be used to study ultrafast carrier processes in lead sulphide quantum dots, such as multiple exciton generation.

    • Khadga J. Karki
    • , Julia R. Widom
    •  & Andrew H. Marcus

  • Article |

    Single-crystal diamond is a promising material for applications in classical and quantum optics, but the lack of scalable fabrication remains an issue. Here, Burek et al. adapt angle-etching nanofabrication techniques to realize ring resonators and photonic crystal cavities in single crystal diamond with quality factors in excess of 105.

    • Michael J. Burek
    • , Yiwen Chu
    •  & Marko Lončar

  • Article |

    Electromagnetically induced transparency—an effect in atomic physics caused by interference between transitions—has found analogues in other areas, like nanophotonics. Yang et al. exploit this effect in an all-dielectric metasurface to produce high-Q-factor resonances ideal for refractive index sensing.

    • Yuanmu Yang
    • , Ivan I. Kravchenko
    •  & Jason Valentine

  • Article |

    Artificial atoms usually constitute an orbital structure for trapped charge carriers. Here, Hönig et al. demonstrate that polarization fields and large charge carrier masses can dilute the common orbital conception and find a hybrid-biexciton molecule that enables anomalous spin configurations.

    • Gerald Hönig
    • , Gordon Callsen
    •  & Axel Hoffmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Controlling the coherent evolution of cavity quantum electrodynamics systems is key for future quantum networks. Here Pagliano et al.demonstrate dynamic control of the coupling of a single exciton to a photonic micro-resonator using electrical tuning of the exciton energy in a photonic crystal cavity diode.

    • Francesco Pagliano
    • , YongJin Cho
    •  & Andrea Fiore

  • Article |

    Plasmons in metallic nanostructures provide light enhancement that amplifies their nonlinear optical response. This study shows that graphene nanoislands also give rise to an amplified nonlinear polarizability that can be tuned electrically to surpass those of other nonlinear media by orders of magnitude.

    • Joel D. Cox
    •  & F. Javier García de Abajo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    DNA is a useful molecule with which to construct nanomaterials with controllable functionalities. Here, the authors fabricate photonic wires by appending dye molecules at set positions along DNA structures, and show how FRET performance can be tuned by modifying dye separation.

    • Susan Buckhout-White
    • , Christopher M Spillmann
    •  & Igor L. Medintz

  • Article |

    Efficiency and stability are two major concerns in polymer-based solar cell development. Here Kong et al.report that the lifetime of a bulk heterojunction polymer can be improved by removing its low-molecular-weight components, which leads to a substantially reduced burn-in loss under photo-aging conditions.

    • Jaemin Kong
    • , Suhee Song
    •  & Kwanghee Lee

  • Article |

    Biological systems, subject to evolutionary optimization over millions of years, have been a source of ingenious solutions in many areas of science. Here, Han et al. develop transparent electrodes inspired by two such systems: a leaf venation and a spider’s web.

    • Bing Han
    • , Yuanlin Huang
    •  & Jinwei Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coherently coupling microwave photons to quantum electronic conductors could provide a useful platform for quantum information processing. Souquet et al. now theoretically demonstrate that such systems can also act as sensitive probes of the quantum properties of non-classical microwave radiation.

    • J. -R. Souquet
    • , M. J. Woolley
    •  & A. A. Clerk

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