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As the demand for data transmission escalates and optical fibre capacity approaches its limit, the telecommunications research community is debating if the capacity crunch is nearing and is suggesting ways to be technology-ready.
Nanophotonic systems, including photonic crystal microcavities and plasmonic metal nanoparticles, that are capable of changing the rate of spontaneous emission are reviewed and compared.
Controlled growth of non-cubic, anisotropic solar cell materials, such as antimony selenide, is bringing new opportunities for efficient thin-film photovoltaics.
High-speed 2 μm digital optical receivers are brought closer to reality by an extended-response foundry-made monolithic silicon-on-insulator avalanche photodiode.
An inverse-design approach yields ultra-compact, high-performance photonic components from patterns of complex, subwavelength voids etched into silicon.
Kerr optical nonlinearities are known to be well suited for achieving optical isolation, but the fact that the degree of non-reciprocity is signal-level dependent brings new opportunities as well as limitations.
This Review covers recent advances in the implementation of spin–photon interfaces in semiconductor quantum dots, nitrogen–vacancy centres in diamond and emerging systems such as colour centres in other wide-bandgap materials.
The finding that multimode optical fibres support a rich and complex mix of spatial and temporal nonlinear phenomena could yield a plethora of promising applications.
The ability to invoke and switch between asymmetric lasing states in two coupled cavities built in a nonlinear photonic crystal creates opportunities for a new form of optical memory.
Competitive activities around the globe to develop the world's brightest synchrotron light source have accelerated in recent years. Taiwanese scientists now aspire to be at the top of the list with the recently constructed Taiwan Photon Source.
Photonic crystal structures enable the controlled creation of long-range atomic interactions and may be a powerful tool for quantum simulation when combined with laser-cooled atoms.
A photoacoustic imaging scheme that uses genetically altered cells that express an absorbing pigment can monitor in vivo growth of cells and tumour development.
Natural hyperbolic materials hold the key to unlocking the full potential of hyperbolic media in nanophotonics. Until now no such materials were available for visible light but recent work finally brings down this roadblock.
Using an electro-optic effect, submicrometre-sized beams have been shown to exhibit non-paraxial propagation over 1,000 Rayleigh lengths. The discovery does not require inhomogeneous or lossy media like plasmon waveguiding.
