Sub-wavelength optics articles from across Nature Portfolio

How can light be efficiently manipulated below the single-pixel level? An answer is now provided using near-field interactions for nanopillars in a metasurface — phase gradients in the gaps between the nanopillars constitute a new degree of freedom that enables efficient wavefront control at the nanoscale.

A microscale platform composed of a slanted nanograting is experimentally demonstrated to efficiently generate spatiotemporal optical vortex. This approach paves the way towards an integrated system for ultrafast pulse shaping.

A metasurface consisting of merely four nanopillars at the wavelength scale is sufficient to generate a high-quality vortex beam.

One-dimensional photonic crystals provide a platform to modulate Weyl quasiparticles with properties of bound states in the continuum both dynamically (transition and rotation) and topologically (singularities in bilateral drumhead surface states).

Polarization serves as an excellent information encoding carrier. Here, authors expand the metasurface encoding dimensionality of polarization information by engineering the Poincaré Sphere trajectory with generalized Malus’ law, unveiling new opportunities for advanced polarization optics.

Time-resolved lightwave-driven scanning tunnelling spectroscopy is developed to investigate how the spin–orbit-split energy levels of a selenium vacancy within a WSe₂ monolayer shift under phonon displacement. Ultrafast snapshots of the electronic tunnelling spectra reveal transient energy shifts up to 40 meV.

How can light be efficiently manipulated below the single-pixel level? An answer is now provided using near-field interactions for nanopillars in a metasurface — phase gradients in the gaps between the nanopillars constitute a new degree of freedom that enables efficient wavefront control at the nanoscale.

By confining and concentrating light in a nanometric volume at the apex of a metallic tip, sub-molecule-scale control of a basic photochemical reaction — phototautomerization — is now shown to be possible. Applicable to other photo-induced reactions, this technique signals a new strategy for the synthesis of complex molecules on surfaces.

Schematic view of the exceptional point on the bilayer metasurface, exhibiting a unidirectional scattering behavior of perfect absorption/reflection.

On-chip Floquet photonic topological insulators, which are based on switched-capacitor circulators, could be used to create hybrid electronic–photonic topological integrated circuits for emerging communication technologies.

Electromagnetic fields in light waves are mainly transverse to propagation direction but actually also have longitudinal components, which may give rise to unexpected optical phenomena involving the angular momentum of light, such as transverse spin and optical torques.