Optical spectroscopy articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy is widely used for in vivo and in vitro applications, yet extracting information from experiments still requires long acquisition times. Here, the authors exploit Bayesian non-parametrics to directly analyze the output of confocal fluorescence experiments thereby probing physical processes on much faster timescales.

    • Sina Jazani
    • , Ioannis Sgouralis
    •  & Steve Pressé

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin-information transport or transfer is essential for spintronics applications and often relies on high purity and quality materials. Here, the authors report on the defect-tolerant solution-processed Ruddlesden–Popper halide perovskites, where a spin propagation length of 600 nm was achieved via spin funneling.

    • David Giovanni
    • , Jia Wei Melvin Lim
    •  & Tze Chien Sum

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transition metals are at the basis of key processes in chemistry and biology but their complex electronic structures make understanding of their properties a challenge. Here the authors resolve individual spectral lines of Cu2 in the deep UV region by two-colour resonant four-wave mixing.

    • M. Beck
    • , P. Bornhauser
    •  & P. P. Radi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular systems displaying aggregation-induced emission (AIE) have important biomedical and optoelectronic applications. Here the authors report a further mechanism for AIE, through aromaticity reversal from the ground state to the excited state, in the non-aromatic annulene derivative of cyclooctatetrathiophene.

    • Zheng Zhao
    • , Xiaoyan Zheng
    •  & Ben Zhong Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical defects endow materials with unique properties but their investigation is challenging due to their small footprint. Here the authors develop a high throughput shortwave infrared spectroscopy method enabling spectral identification and quantitative counting of fluorescent chemical defects at the single defect level.

    • Xiaojian Wu
    • , Mijin Kim
    •  & YuHuang Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Despite recent advances in simulations of tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) under highly confined fields, a simply physical mechanism has remained elusive. Here, the authors show that single molecule TERS images can be explained by local sub-molecular density changes induced by the confined near-field during the Raman process.

    • Xing Chen
    • , Pengchong Liu
    •  & Lasse Jensen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The long lifetime and spin properties of dark excitons in atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides offer opportunities to explore light-matter interactions beyond electric dipole transitions. Here, the authors demonstrate that the coupling of the dark exciton and an optically silent chiral phonon enables the intrinsic photoluminescence of the dark-exciton replica in monolayer WSe2

    • Zhipeng Li
    • , Tianmeng Wang
    •  & Su-Fei Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The unique valley and spin texture of atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) allows the observation of the valley Zeeman effect for neutral and charged excitons. Here, the authors unveil the underlying physics of the magneto-optical response and valley Zeeman splitting of trions in tungsten-based TMDs.

    • T. P. Lyons
    • , S. Dufferwiel
    •  & A. I. Tartakovskii

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Acyl carrier proteins (ACPs), a universal and highly conserved carrier of acyl intermediates during fatty acid and polyketide synthesis, are difficult to visualise. Here, the authors developed a facile, Raman spectroscopy-based method to detect ACP-substrate interactions.

    • Samuel C. Epstein
    • , Adam R. Huff
    •  & Louise K. Charkoudian

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The bacterial protein Cnu together with the transcription repressor H-NS regulate expression of virulence factors in an osmo-sensitive manner. Here authors show that the structure of Cnu swells with decreasing ionic strength driving the oligomerization of H-NS and regulating osmo-sensory response.

    • Abhishek Narayan
    • , Soundhararajan Gopi
    •  & Athi N. Naganathan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optical clock networks have many applications from precision time keeping, sensing to fundamental physics. Here the authors demonstrate robust and free-space femtosecond time synchronization of optical clocks via a moving quadcopter.

    • Hugo Bergeron
    • , Laura C. Sinclair
    •  & Nathan R. Newbury

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanism of the non-radiative recombination in halide perovskite nanocrystals has not been fully understood. Here Gerhard et al. resolve the contributions of individual recombination centers by photoluminescence blinking measurements and identify ion migration as the underlying mechanism.

    • Marina Gerhard
    • , Boris Louis
    •  & Ivan G. Scheblykin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The electronic and photonic contributions to the power conversion efficiency in solar cell devices are often hard to disentangle. Here Bercegol et al. develop a purely optical method to quantitatively decouple and assess the electronic and photonic processes in halide perovskite solar cells.

    • Adrien Bercegol
    • , Daniel Ory
    •  & Laurent Lombez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The link between how the stiffness of the cornea affects stem cells is unclear. Here, the authors use Brillouin spectro-microscopy to show that mechanical properties of the cornea affect epithelial stem cells and after injury, treating the cornea with collagenase suppresses YAP activation, assisting in regeneration.

    • Ricardo M. Gouveia
    • , Guillaume Lepert
    •  & Che J. Connon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Upon photoactivation the Orange Carotenoid Protein (OCP) binds to the phycobilisome and prevents damage by thermally dissipating excess energy. Here authors use an Anti-Brownian ELectrokinetic trap to determine the photophysics of single OCP-quenched phycobilisomes and observe two distinct OCP-quenched states with either one or two OCPs bound.

    • Allison H. Squires
    • , Peter D. Dahlberg
    •  & W. E. Moerner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The characterization of biomacromolecule structural vibrations has been impeded by a broad continuous vibrational density of states obscuring molecule specific vibrations. A terahertz microscopy system using polarization control produces signatures to dynamically fingerprint proteins and a RNA G-quadruplex.

    • Katherine A. Niessen
    • , Mengyang Xu
    •  & Andrea G. Markelz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Distinguishing electronic and vibrational coherences helps to clarify the near-unity efficiency of primary electron transfer in reaction centres. Here, the authors report their respective correlation with the electron transfer rate by comparing the 2D electronic spectra of three mutant reaction centres.

    • Fei Ma
    • , Elisabet Romero
    •  & Rienk van Grondelle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrochromic technology has diverse cutting-edge applications, but it has never been used to overcome the critical problems in the field of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Here, the authors demonstrate a generic electrochromic strategy for ensuring the reproducibility and renewability of SERS substrates.

    • Shan Cong
    • , Zhen Wang
    •  & Zhigang Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It has been challenging to probe whether dynamically disordered organic cations affect optical properties of CH3NH3PbI3. Here, Guo et al. employ infrared-pump electronic-probe spectroscopy and show that pump-induced atomic motions of the organic cations do not substantially alter optoelectronic properties.

    • Peijun Guo
    • , Arun Mannodi-Kanakkithodi
    •  & Richard D. Schaller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ice-VII, the densest phase of ice, has been expected to exist only under extreme conditions, such as in Earth’s deep mantle. Shin et al. show spectroscopic evidence that ice-VII-like structures can also be found in water confined in the nanomeniscus between packed nanoparticles at ambient conditions.

    • Dongha Shin
    • , Jonggeun Hwang
    •  & Wonho Jhe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Materials exhibiting room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) with short afterglow are desirable for bio-medical applications. Here the authors synthesise a library of compounds with tunable RTP properties, embedding carbon nanodots in non-toxic alkaline-earth carbonate, sulphate and oxalate hosts.

    • David C. Green
    • , Mark A. Holden
    •  & Fiona C. Meldrum

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the pH changes at cell surfaces is important for understanding the mechanisms of different physiological processes. Here, the authors report on the development of a cell membrane anchored gold nanoparticle for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy determination of pH.

    • Leonardo Puppulin
    • , Shigekuni Hosogi
    •  & Yoshinori Marunaka

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors explore the ultrafast photodynamics of methyl anthranilate. From the quantum beat behavior, the authors find evidence for ultrafast energy redistribution processes which hinder excited state relaxation, making methyl anthranilate a poor choice for a sunscreen chemical filter.

    • Natércia d. N. Rodrigues
    • , Neil C. Cole-Filipiak
    •  & Vasilios G. Stavros

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Alignment and orientation of the molecules allows studying the photon-molecule interactions in greater detail. Here the authors demonstrate the three-dimensional orientation of SO2 molecules in using COLTRIMS and orthogonally polarized laser pulses but in the absence of DC field.

    • Kang Lin
    • , Ilia Tutunnikov
    •  & Jian Wu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular aggregation is a widespread and important process in physiological metabolism, but details regarding conformational changes during the process are hard to probe. Here, the authors use circular dichroism to monitor in-situ the conformational changes occurring during molecular aggregation.

    • Haoke Zhang
    • , Xiaoyan Zheng
    •  & Ben Zhong Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The short exciton life time in atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides poses limitations to efficient control of the valley pseudospin and coherence. Here, the authors manipulate the exciton coherence in a WSe2 monolayer embedded in an optical microcavity in the strong light-matter coupling regime.

    • S. Dufferwiel
    • , T. P. Lyons
    •  & A. I. Tartakovskii

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Molecular details that underlie mechanical properties of spider silk are of great interest to material scientists. Here, the authors report a previously unknown three-state mechanism of folding and an expanded structure of a spider silk protein that may contribute to elasticity of spider silk.

    • Charlotte Rat
    • , Julia C. Heiby
    •  & Hannes Neuweiler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fourier transform spectrometers are generally limited to slow scanning rates at high resolution. Here the authors demonstrate highly efficient Fourier transform spectroscopy using a dynamic phase-control technique that enables fast acquisition without compromising bandwidth or resolution.

    • Kazuki Hashimoto
    •  & Takuro Ideguchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    On-chip spectrometers typically have limited spectral channels and low signal to noise ratios. Here the authors introduce a digital architecture that uses switches to change the interferometer path lengths, enabling exponentially more spectral channels per circuit element and lower noise by leveraging a machine learning reconstruction algorithm.

    • Derek M. Kita
    • , Brando Miranda
    •  & Juejun Hu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Enabling concurrent, high throughput analysis of single nano particles would greatly increase the capacity to study size, composition and inter and intra particle population variance. Here, the authors present a comprehensive platform for single particle automated Raman trapping analysis without any target modification.

    • Jelle Penders
    • , Isaac J. Pence
    •  & Molly M. Stevens

  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D electronic spectroscopy enables a spatially-averaged view of the electronic structure of a heterogeneous system. Here, the authors extend it to sub-micron resolution and ~106 times better sensitivity, to resolve spatially varying excitonic structure in a heterogeneous mixture of photosynthetic cells.

    • Vivek Tiwari
    • , Yassel Acosta Matutes
    •  & Jennifer P. Ogilvie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Alumina is thought to be the main condensate to form in the gas outflow from oxygen-rich evolved stars. Here, the authors perform a condensation experiment with alumina in a low-gravity environment, and find spectroscopic evidence for a sharp feature at a wavelength of 13.55 μm.

    • Shinnosuke Ishizuka
    • , Yuki Kimura
    •  & Yuko Inatomi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Angle-resolved monitoring of structure parameters during crystal growth is often slow owing to mechanical movements. Here, the authors use second harmonic scattering and Fourier-plane imaging to dynamically monitor size, shape and concentration of ZIF-8 in situ during the growth process.

    • Stijn Van Cleuvenbergen
    • , Zachary J. Smith
    •  & Monique A. van der Veen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A known limitation of super-resolution STED microscopy is the need of high laser power which can cause photobleaching and phototoxicity. Here the authors further optimize this method and show that modulating STED intensity during acquisition results in an enhanced resolution and reduced background.

    • Maria J. Sarmento
    • , Michele Oneto
    •  & Luca Lanzanò

  • Article
    | Open Access

    One-dimensional materials such as carbon nanotubes have many applications, but not all of their properties can be described in the same way as for conventional media. Here, the authors devise a method to measure the complex optical susceptibility in a 1D nanomaterial and demonstrate it for carbon nanotubes.

    • Fengrui Yao
    • , Can Liu
    •  & Kaihui Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Non-destructive methods to image metabolism in situ in living tissues are limited. Here the authors combine deuterium oxide probing and stimulated Raman scattering microscopy to image lipid metabolic dynamics and protein synthesis in cells and in vivo in mice, C. elegans, and zebrafish.

    • Lingyan Shi
    • , Chaogu Zheng
    •  & Wei Min

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dual-comb interferometry promises to be a high-precision metrology technique, but is hindered by short coherence times that limit the maximum number of averages. Here, Chen et al. achieve mutual coherence times of almost 2000 s by feed-forward stabilization of the carrier-envelope offsets.

    • Zaijun Chen
    • , Ming Yan
    •  & Nathalie Picqué

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mapping the distribution of functional groups on 2D materials with high resolution remains challenging. Here, the authors combine tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy to simultaneously examine the topography, chemical composition and electronic nature of graphene oxide surfaces with nanoscale spatial resolution.

    • Weitao Su
    • , Naresh Kumar
    •  & Marc Chaigneau

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites are emerging materials for efficient photovoltaics; however understanding how charge/heat dissipates inside the material remains a challenge. Here, the authors use a spectroscopic approach to observe unusually slow thermal equilibration between the organic and inorganic components.

    • Peijun Guo
    • , Jue Gong
    •  & Richard D. Schaller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transition metal complexes that display slow magnetic relaxation show promise for information storage, but our mechanistic understanding of the magnetic relaxation of such compounds remains limited. Here, the authors spectroscopically and computationally characterize the strength of spin–phonon couplings, which play an important role in the relaxation process.

    • Duncan H. Moseley
    • , Shelby E. Stavretis
    •  & Zi-Ling Xue

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multidimensional spectroscopy is a powerful tool in exploring photo-induced dynamics and electron coupling processes in molecules. Here the authors demonstrate coherent two-dimensional electronic mass spectrometry on molecular beams and its application to photoionization studies of the NO2 molecule.

    • Sebastian Roeding
    •  & Tobias Brixner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Some photo-physical processes in multichromophore systems might get triggered only if two excitations are present. Here, the authors introduce exciton–exciton-interaction 2D spectroscopy, which is a non-linear optical method that can selectively track the time evolution of such effects.

    • Jakub Dostál
    • , Franziska Fennel
    •  & Tobias Brixner

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