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Ferroelectric domains are optically reconfigured by a reversible process. The tuning is sufficient to enable macroscopically observable responses and the findings may help lead to the development of photo-stimulated ferroelectric devices.
A quantum memory based on a rubidium atom shows a record-long storage time of 100 ms with a readout efficiency of 22%. The photonic qubit is transferred between a basis with strong light–matter coupling and a basis with low decoherence.
Optically pumped continuous-wave lasing is achieved in methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) distributed feedback lasers that are maintained below the MAPbI3 tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition temperature of 160 K.
Optical trapping of ions with a high level of isolation from the environment is achieved, opening a path to performing ultracold interactions of ions and atoms at previously inaccessible collision energies.
Self-starting harmonic frequency comb generation with a THz repetition rate in a quantum cascade laser is demonstrated. The mode spacing uniformity is verified to within 5 × 10−12 parts of the central frequency. The findings extend the range of applications of quantum cascade laser frequency combs.
Unconditional entanglement-enhanced photonic interferometry is implemented by using a state-of-the-art photon source and detectors. Sampling a birefringent phase shift, precision beyond the shot-noise limit is demonstrated without data correction.
A nested purification protocol is developed by combining entanglement purification and swapping. It works for the spontaneous parametric downconversion sources as well as other physical systems that suffer from double-pair emission noise.
Picosecond all-optical switching of the polarization of visible light is achieved by using the anisotropy and nonlinearity of a hyperbolic metamaterial.
A nanocryostat is realized through the refrigeration of levitated Yb3+:YLF nanocrystals to 130 K using anti-Stokes fluorescence cooling, while the laser polarization allows orientation control of the trapped nanocrystal and maximizes its cooling.
Electronic–plasmonic transducers made from metal–insulator–metal junctions are demonstrated. The plasmon sources are coupled efficiently to plasmonic waveguides and could be used in integrated nanophotonic applications.
By exploiting dynamics arising from nonlinear laser–material interactions, functional microelements and arbitrarily complex 3D architectures deep inside silicon are fabricated with 1 μm resolution, without damaging the silicon above or below.
The longest coherence time of a single qubit of more than ten minutes is observed in a 171Yb+ ion. After sympathetically cooling the 171Yb+ ion qubit with a 138Ba+ ion, noise from magnetic-field fluctuations and the local oscillator is suppressed by a dynamic decoupling scheme.
Variable micropotentials for light are created by thermo-optic imprinting of a dye–polymer solution within a microcavity. A thermalized photon Bose–Einstein condensate as well as the coupling and eigenstate hybridization of sites are demonstrated.
Counter-propagating solitons are generated in microresonator systems, producing dual-soliton frequency-comb streams with different repetition rates but high relative coherence useful for spectroscopy and laser ranging systems.
A unidirectional photonic wire laser has been developed by integrating reflectors into terahertz quantum cascade lasers. The transverse dimension is much smaller than the lasing wavelength (80 μm). A record wall-plug power efficiency of 1% is achieved.
Valley-polarized light–matter quasiparticles in two-dimensional semiconductor microcavities are demonstrated. Access to spin–valley physics may be useful for photonic quantum technologies.
Researchers excite valley-addressable polaritons in MoSe2 incorporated in a photonic microcavity. Understanding of the valley pseudospin retention is revealed and robust states demonstrated.