Reviews & Analysis

Silicon photonic circuits offer a promising solution for the interconnect bottleneck for advanced computing systems, but they typically require additional materials, such as germanium for photodetection. An all-silicon receiver capable of handling a data stream at 1.28 terabits per second is paving the way for future optical interconnects.

The field of plasmonics continues to show its potential scientific and technological impact, as new companies exploiting plasmonics beyond sensing applications emerge.

The nonlinear optical response of achiral molecules spread on chiral nanostructured substrates and subjected to circularly polarized light is examined. The experiment is a step towards confirming a long-standing theoretical prediction: hyper-Raman optical activity.

Short-wave infrared photothermal microscopy enables deep-tissue vibrational imaging at millimetre depth with high sensitivity and sub-cellular spatial resolution, offering potential for applications in biological and medical fields.

Terahertz waveforms can now be measured with atomic-scale spatial resolution as a result of a new form of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy that uses tunnelling electrons as an ultrafast, localized probe. The approach paves the way for ultrafast optical surface analysis at the scale of individual molecules or atoms.

Precise control over doping levels and displacement fields enables the observation of a notable blueshift in the Fermi polaron resonance in trilayer tungsten diselenide. This result highlights the promise of two-dimensional materials for advanced nonlinear optical applications with high tunability.

A plasmonic platform and a dual gate are integrated in a single-photon emitter made of two-dimensional materials. The combination enables engineered radiative and nonradiative decays, leading to a device quantum efficiency of up to 90%.

By exploiting nonlinear feedback arising from the interaction of ultrafast laser pulses, self-organized nanolines that appear to defy the limits of diffraction are shown to cut, dice, and structure optical materials, fabricating true zero-order sapphire waveplates and crystalline micro-prisms.

Although three-dimensional laser nanofabrication has become an established and widespread technology, research towards achieving higher resolutions, higher speeds, lower costs, mass production, more material availability and more functionality for this technology continues.

This Review examines the principles of operation and progress made in developing free-electron lasers that feature plasma-wakefield-acceleration technology.

Real-time electron dynamics studies of complex systems require bright attosecond pump-probe capabilities at X-ray wavelengths. Nano-focusing schemes reaching intensities in excess of 10²² W cm^–2 and superradiant cascaded amplification of attosecond pulses to TW powers at free-electron lasers are providing transformative capabilities in this burgeoning field.

Novel optical components that withstand high-power laser irradiation and micro light-emitting diodes capable of full-colour emission were highlights of the Japan Society of Applied Physics Spring Meeting.

The electrochemical triggering of fluorophores in dSTORM enables one to actively control their switching behaviours, resulting in improved spatial resolution and precise molecular counting down to the single molecule level in emitter-dense areas.

A high-dimensional photodetection system that combines a lens and a thin-film interface enables simultaneous measurements of light spectrum and polarization states, with the aid of a deep neural network.

Broadband energy can be delivered to extended targets deep inside a multiple-scattering system, paving ways for using broadband, partially incoherent light in a wide range of applications, such as deep-tissue imaging, laser therapy and optogenetics.

A new design of electron gun that uses terahertz waves to accelerate electrons in a high field gradient brings a tabletop answer to the generation of ultrashort electron bunches.