Volume 9 Issue 12, December 2015

Spin–orbit optical phenomena involve the interaction of the photon spin with the light wave propagation and spatial distribution, mediated by suitable optical media. Here we present a short overview of the emerging photonic applications that rely on such effects.

Last year the common notion that signal disturbance has to be monitored in a quantum cryptographic link to guarantee secrecy was challenged by a new protocol. The formidable task of demonstrating it experimentally has now been achieved.

Heating LEDs from room temperature to 615 K is found to increase their emission power fourfold. The finding suggests that thermophotonics could remove the need for heat sinks for high-power devices.

The deployment of LED lighting that can communicate with portable electronics could provide a faster alternative to WiFi.

Diode lasers represent a viable alternative to light sources used in many biomedical applications. Their ongoing development will further increase their importance, offering not only multiple wavelength ranges, but also higher power levels.

This Progress Article details the latest achievements and underlying principles of light carrying transverse spin.The capabilities and future applications of this young yet already advanced field are highlighted.

This Review article provides an overview of the fundamental origins and important applications of the main spin–orbit interaction phenomena in modern optics that play a crucial role at subwavelength scales.

Scientists theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that the transformation of spin into orbital momentum can lead to a fundamentally new type of force acting transversally to the direction of propagation.

Optogenetics makes it possible for dynamic patterns of visible light to control the behaviour of excitation waves in heart cells.

An improved table-top femtosecond soft X-ray laser with a gain duration of 450 fs is reported.

Limits of orbital-angular-momentum multiplexing for free-space optical communication are revealed.

A proof-of-principle quantum key distribution experiment based on the round-robin differential phase shift protocol is demonstrated. Using a coherent wave-packet containing five pulses, the quantum keys were distributed over up to 30 km of fibre.

A round-robin differential phase shift protocol, in which monitoring of the signal disturbance is unnecessary, has been experimentally realized. With 65 pulses in each packet, the system can distribute a secret key over a distance of 90 km.

Scientists demonstrate an optically pumped InP-based distributed feedback laser array monolithically grown on (001)-silicon operating at room temperature that is suitable for wavelength-division multiplexing applications.

A 256 × 256 pixel scintillator-based X-ray detector that improves resolution by limiting optical cross-talk is made using terbium-doped gadolinium oxysulfide scintillator particles in an organic photodetector matrix.

The ability to induce coupling between the spin angular momenta and orbital angular momenta of photons is creating new opportunities for preparing unique states of light and performing new forms of optical manipulation. This focus describes the theory and mechanisms behind the coupling and a discussion of the potential applications.