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By using an optical frequency comb as the light source for Fourier transform spectroscopy, scientists show that well-resolved broadband absorption and dispersion spectra can be recorded in a single experiment, providing sensitive detection of multiple molecular species over a broad spectral window.
The coherent storage and retrieval of a four-wave-mixing normal mode in a hot atomic rubidium vapour may prove to be useful for future information processing schemes.
The tiny phase changes introduced by nonlinear optics performed at the single-photon level is reported in a photonic crystal fibre with carefully designed nonlinear and dispersion properties. The approach may prove useful in future quantum information processing schemes.
The combination of spectrally resolved two-photon microscopy, fluorescent tags and appropriate theory makes it possible to determine the complex size, configuration and spatial distribution of proteins in single living cells. The findings made could lead to ways of tracking the cellular dynamics of individual molecular complexes.
The realization of a chip-based, broadband optical isolator is of considerable interest for integrated photonics. To date, no technique has been shown to be able to do this using materials and processes that are CMOS-compatible. Now, scientists propose that the use of direction-dependent photonic mode transitions in silicon nanophotonic structures could be the solution.