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Mid-infrared spectroscopy with nanometre spatial resolution is highly desired for materials and life sciences applications. A nanoscale mid-infrared spectrometer is demonstrated that detects mechanical forces exerted by molecules on an atomic force microscope tip upon light excitation. It operates under ambient conditions with a high sensitivity and a spatial resolution of better than 25 nm.
A universal pseudo-cooling method based on a Maxwell-demon-like swapping sequence is proposed. A controlled Hamiltonian gate is used to identify lower energy states of the system and to drive the system to those states. An experimental implementation using a quantum optical network exhibits a fidelity higher than 0.978.
Terahertz waveforms with peak fields of 72 MV cm−1 and a central frequency of 30 THz drive interband polarization in bulk GaSe off-resonantly and accelerate excited electron–hole pairs, inducing dynamical Bloch oscillations. This results in the emission of phase-stable, high-harmonic transients over the whole frequency range of 0.1–675 THz.
A solid-state device is demonstrated that can detect the absolute offset between the carrier wave and envelope of an ultrashort pulse, the carrier–envelope phase. It holds promise for routine measurement and monitoring of the carrier–envelope phase in attosecond experimental set-ups.
A means for localizing fluorescent molecules over distances of hundreds of nanometres exploits the energy transfer between a donor molecule and surface plasmons on a metal film. The technique is demonstrated by using it to profile the membranes of living cells.
