Photonic crystals articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Distinguishing between photonic crystals and metamaterials can provide a path for designing low-loss artificial materials with a range of novel applications. Here, Rybin et al. introduce a concept of phase transitions between all-dielectric metamaterials and photonic crystals based on the physics of Mie and Bragg resonances.

    • Mikhail V. Rybin
    • , Dmitry S. Filonov
    •  & Mikhail F. Limonov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dynamic control of components is required for large-scale quantum photonic networks. Here, Kapfingeret al. show dynamic control of the interaction between two coupled photonic crystal nanocavities forming a photonic molecule. Tuning is achieved by using an electrically generated radio frequency surface acoustic wave.

    • Stephan Kapfinger
    • , Thorsten Reichert
    •  & Hubert J. Krenner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum light–matter interfaces connecting stationary qubits to photons are fundamental elements of future quantum optical networks. Here, the authors report a quantum interface based on highly coherent rare-earth ions—the solid-state qubits—coupled to a nanophotonic cavity fabricated in the host crystal.

    • Tian Zhong
    • , Jonathan M. Kindem
    •  & Andrei Faraon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical cavities enhance light–matter interactions, and have been used to strongly couple a photon to a single spin. Here, the authors take this a step further by coupling a photon to a two-spin system by embedding an indium arsenide quantum-dot molecule in a photonic crystal cavity.

    • Patrick M. Vora
    • , Allan S. Bracker
    •  & Daniel Gammon

  • 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

    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

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Colour change in many vertebrates originates from pigment dispersion or aggregation. Here, Teyssier et al. show that chameleons rapidly shift colour through a physical mechanism involving a lattice of nanocrystals in dermal iridophores, a second and deeper iridophore layer strongly reflects near-infrared light.

    • Jérémie Teyssier
    • , Suzanne V. Saenko
    •  & Michel C. Milinkovitch

  • 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

    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
    | 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 |

    Slow-light propagation provides the means to enhance and control light–matter interactions and it has been predicted to increase the gain coefficient of active waveguides. Here, Ek et al.experimentally demonstrate that the gain of a material can be enhanced using slow-light effects in photonic crystals.

    • Sara Ek
    • , Per Lunnemann
    •  & Jesper Mork

  • Article |

    Photonic crystals used for many optical devices are the materials made of nanoscaled periodic structures that diffract light. Yue et al. design and fabricate a soft mechanochromic hydrogel that exhibits a fast colour switching rate at 0.1 ms in a full-colour band.

    • Youfeng Yue
    • , Takayuki Kurokawa
    •  & Jian Ping Gong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rydberg atoms are appealing for sensing, atomic and quantum information studies, if they can be suitably integrated with optical devices. Towards this end, Epple et al. show that caesium-filled kagome-lattice hollow-core photonic crystal fibres provide a platform for fibre-based spectroscopy of Rydberg states.

    • G. Epple
    • , K. S. Kleinbach
    •  & R. Löw

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Atoms lose coherence via interactions with each other and the walls of their environment, which degrades the performance of atomic systems. As a route to minimize such effects, Okaba et al.use kagome-lattice hollow-core photonic crystal fibres to confine atoms, preventing them interacting with the wall.

    • Shoichi Okaba
    • , Tetsushi Takano
    •  & Hidetoshi Katori

  • Article |

    The use of photonic crystals to trap atoms on a chip offers unique possibilities for atom–light interactions. Advancing towards this goal, the authors realize photonic crystal waveguides where the electronic transition frequencies of localized caesium atoms are aligned with the band edges of the waveguides.

    • A. Goban
    • , C.-L. Hung
    •  & H.J. Kimble

  • Article |

    The characterization of short light pulses is important for performance management in applications such as telecommunications and spectroscopy. Here, Monat et al. demonstrate a photonic crystal waveguide that, based on third-harmonic generation, delivers such auto-correlator functionality on a silicon chip.

    • Christelle Monat
    • , Christian Grillet
    •  & David J. Moss

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nanoscale optomechanical systems offer a route to using optical forces for a range of devices based on photonic structures. Deotareet al. present a reconfigurable optical filter based on coupled silicon photonic crystal nanobeam cavities that can overcome thermo-optic effects at high frequencies.

    • Parag B. Deotare
    • , Irfan Bulu
    •  & Marko Loncar

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