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By using qubit recycling, researchers demonstrate a scalable version of Shor's algorithm in which the total number of qubits is one third of that required in the standard protocol. They experimentally implemented a two-photon compiled algorithm to factor N = 21, pointing to larger-scale implementations of Shor's algorithm.
Researchers describe a path towards 5 × 1014 fully coherent soft X-ray photons in 200 fs pulses reaching 20 GW peak power. The proposed amplification scheme is based on seeding stretched high harmonics using a transposition of Chirped Pulse Amplification to soft x-rays.
The mechanism by which various species of silvery fish produce almost perfect broadband, polarization-neutral reflections is revealed. The answer lies with the use of multilayers composed of two types of birefringent guanine crystals, which each have their extraordinary and ordinary refractive indices orientated in different directions.
Researchers propose a design of quantum communication based on directly transmitting quantum information in encoded form across a network. Involving no teleportation, the scheme does not require entangled links between nodes and long-lived quantum memories. It potentially provides higher communication rates than existing entanglement-based schemes.
Researchers demonstrate a chip-scale optomechanical accelerometer with displacement read-out using a photonic crystal cavity integrated with a tethered nanogram test mass of high mechanical Q-factor. The device achieves an acceleration resolution of 10 µg Hz−1/2 for sub-mW optical power, a bandwidth greater than 20 kHz, and a dynamic range of 50 dB.
By considering a resonator lattice in which the coupling constants between the resonators are harmonically modulated in time and by controlling the spatial distribution of the modulation phases, scientists introduce a scheme that can generate an effective magnetic field for photons, without the use of magneto-optical effects.
Efficient four-wave-mixing process in silicon nanophotonic wires facilitates spectral translation of a signal at 2,440 nm to the telecommunications band at 1,620 nm across a span of 62 THz. This approach helps eliminate cooling requirements for the narrow-bandgap semiconductors traditionally used to detect mid-infrared photons.
Researchers demonstrate the FERMI free-electron laser operating in the high-gain harmonic generation regime, allowing high stability, transverse and longitudinal coherence and polarization control.
By time-sharing optical forces, researchers show that it is possible to adapt the shape of a trapping potential to the shape of an elongated helical bacterium. This approach allows the bacterium to be held and stably oriented for several minutes, which will aid investigations into the nanomechanics of single wall-less bacteria reacting to external stimuli.
Researchers experimentally demonstrate an upconversion system for field-deployable mid-infrared spectral imaging. The system provides a room-temperature dark noise of 0.2 photons per spatial element per second — a billion times below the dark noise level of cryogenically cooled cameras — and a quantum efficiency of 20%.
Researchers use spatially shaped light to control the direction of spin-wave emission from the ferrimagnetic insulator Gd4/3Yb2/3BiFe5O12. They capture the essential features of the observations by employing a simple model that maps the spatial profile of the pump pulse onto the dispersion relation of the spin wave.
Researchers describe an optical method for switching off or modifying the light emission from cells transfected with green fluorescent protein. The scheme uses the precise delivery of femtosecond laser light to induce the release of reactive oxygen species within the cell, which bleaches the fluorescence.
Carrier multiplication is a carrier-relaxation process that results in the generation of multiple electron–hole pairs after the absorption of a single photon. Researchers have now studied the role of nanoparticle interplay on the carrier-multiplication dynamics of two interacting silicon nanocrystals for photovoltaic applications.
Frequency stabilization in a high-finesse optical cavity is limited fundamentally by thermal-noise-induced cavity length fluctuations. Scientists have now developed a single-crystal silicon system that offers a fractional frequency instability of 1 × 10−16 at short timescales and supports a laser linewidth of less than 40 mHz at 1.5 µm.
Researchers show that digital optical phase conjugation can be used to achieve focusing at record depths in highly scattering media, and report fluorescence imaging beyond the ballistic regime with a three-dimensional confined sound-modulation zone.
Polymer solar cells are lightweight and may represent a low-cost source of energy, although efficiency still prohibits many practical applications. Here researchers demonstrate polymer solar cells with a certified efficiency of 9.2%. This is achieved by employing an inverted structure that aids photogenerated charge-carrier collection and photon harvesting.
Researchers experimentally realize the quantum delayed-choice experiment and show that the quantum wave–particle superposition is clearly different from the classical mixture by comparing interference fringes under various conditions. This work reveals the deep relationship between the complementarity principle and the superposition principle of light.
Recent theory predicts that Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen arguments enable an effect in which one party can steer the other but not the converse. Researchers have now demonstrated this one-way steering effect with two entangled Gaussian modes of light, potentially opening up a new field of applications in quantum information.
The realization of GaAs lasers on a silicon substrate using a print transfer process offers an alternative wafer-bonding technique for the hybrid integration of optoelectronics.
Researchers show that Förster resonance energy transfer between two different dyes makes it possible to realize an efficient and stable laser for applications in biophotonics.
