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The phase of terahertz waves can now be precisely modulated electronically using a chip-based digitally coded phase shifter. The achievement is a step towards chip-scale integrated terahertz technology.
Time-varying metamaterials bring in an extra degree of freedom, enabling applications unachievable by normal metamaterials and opening up new opportunities.
Photon propagation through an array of coupled waveguides arranged in various fractal patterns serves as a useful ‘optical simulator’ for revealing insights into quantum transport in complex scenarios.
A simple yet effective optical set-up, employing two controllable, indistinguishable photons, is proven to allow a direct measurement of the exchange phase due to the bosonic particle statistics.
A summary of recent advances in the near-infrared light-emitting diodes that are fabricated by solution-processed means, with coverage of devices based on organic semiconductors, halide perovskites and colloidal quantum dots.
Colloidal quantum dots may offer solution-processable lasers, with a wide range of colours available. Technical hurdles and progress towards realization of useful quantum dot laser diodes is reviewed.
Electromagnetic confinement in optical resonators of diminishing dimensions has enabled unprecedented light–matter interaction strengths. This miniaturization trend has a nonlocal limit, which, surprisingly, originates from the matter excitations rather than the light.
Recent progress in terahertz scanning probe microscopy is reviewed with an emphasis on techniques that access length scales below 100 nm relevant to material science. An outlook on the future of nanoscale terahertz scanning probe microscopy is also provided.
Nearly 100 years after the prediction of Brillouin light-scattering spectroscopy, or Brillouin–Mandelstam light-scattering spectroscopy, the effect has proved itself a powerful tool for decades. Now its application to probing confined acoustic phonons, phononic metamaterials and magnons is reviewed.
The adiabatic encirclement of exceptional points in non-Hermitian systems is known to produce surprising non-adiabatic effects. A new study finds a cheat code to exactly emulate this behaviour without ever having to produce an exceptional point.
Reducing the footprint of optical spectrometers is a critical requirement for many in-field applications. Now, a single black phosphorus photodetector with a wavelength-scale size enables mid-infrared computational spectrometry.
A ‘twin-field’ repeater-less protocol has enabled an experimental demonstration of secure quantum key distribution over a 511-km long-haul optical fibre link.
A chip-based optical frequency comb has enabled the realization of a 300 GHz signal with record low phase noise. The development could yield ultra-compact, ultra-low-noise sources for millimetre-wave applications in telecommunications, remote sensing and precision spectroscopy.
The unique optical properties of graphene were combined with lithium-ion battery technology to produce multispectral optical devices, with colour-changing capabilities.
Short period, femtosecond transient gratings in a sample can now be produced by X-rays. The approach promises to reveal the excitation behaviour of complex materials with high temporal and spatial resolution.
Tunnelling currents inside plasmonic nanostructures are fast enough to gain direct access to the oscillating electric field of near-infrared and visible light, opening up exciting routes towards attosecond metrology of light–matter interaction and unique approaches to spectroscopy.
The successful demonstration of two-stage acceleration driven by terahertz pulses bodes well for the future development of compact, efficient particle accelerators.
A new way to define the shape of tiny light-emitting semiconductor pixels provides a means to fabricate arrays of InGaN blue micro-LEDs with a resolution as high as 8,500 pixels per inch.
