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High-harmonics spectroscopy reveals the closure of the bandgap between adjacent conduction bands in solids driven by high-intensity laser fields, providing insight into light-driven modifications of band structures
The strongly temperature-dependent band-edge absorption from gallium arsenide enables an optical thermometer with nanokelvin temperature resolution and microscale spatial resolution.
A single-pass free electron laser operating at 0.16 THz with an energy efficiency of ~10% promises compact and high-power sources in the terahertz spectral region.
The chiral nature of phonons in crystals of biomolecules is identified by terahertz spectroscopy, paving the way to a better understanding of biochemical processes.
Researchers report a solid-state laser containing metasurfaces that generates a 10 × 10 array of phase-locked optical vortices with tunable orbital angular momentum.
Non-Abelian braiding, an essential process for realizing topological quantum computation, is implemented using an array of photonic integrated waveguides.
Non-reciprocal physical systems exhibit direction-dependent propagation of light, enabling a myriad of devices such as diodes and circulators. A new experiment demonstrates non-reciprocal amplification of light via atomic spins, driving photons on a one-way street through optical nanofibres.
The local polarization of light in nanophotonic waveguides changes with the light’s direction of propagation. By electrically controlling the polarization of optically created waveguide-coupled excitons in a two-dimensional semiconductor, researchers demonstrate voltage-controlled routing of photons in an integrated nanophotonic device.
A record-breaking microwave-to-optics conversion efficiency of 82% over a 1 MHz bandwidth for low photon numbers is achieved by using a gas of Rydberg atoms, paving the way towards applications in quantum technologies.
Weak interaction of light with matter makes its tunable control notoriously challenging, resulting in bulky and inefficient devices. Now, a study demonstrates that van der Waals antiferromagnets featuring strong spin-charge induced anisotropy could offer excellent control of light polarization selectivity.
Harnessing birefringence in a photonic chip featuring an array of coupled waveguides brings new opportunities for investigating quantum effects such as bunching and antibunching.
Recent progress of table-top isolated attosecond light sources is reviewed with a focus on the related technologies for high-average-flux and high-peak-intensity attosecond bursts of light. An outlook on its applications is also provided.
A liquid crystal doped with a diarylethene enantiomer can be switched by light into stable reflection states of different colour, creating new opportunities for lasing and labelling.
