Optical physics articles within Nature Materials

Featured

  • Article |

    Vectorial electromagnetic modes in coupled metallic nanolasers are used to emulate the behaviour of complex magnetic materials, providing an integrated nanophotonic platform to study spin exchange interactions and map large-scale optimization problems.

    • Midya Parto
    • , William Hayenga
    •  & Mercedeh Khajavikhan

  • Letter |

    The ultrafast response of a pyroelectric sensor with near-infrared responsivity is demonstrated by combining a pyroelectric thermal detector with wavelength-selective nanoparticle absorbers.

    • Jon W. Stewart
    • , Jarrett H. Vella
    •  & Maiken H. Mikkelsen

  • Review Article |

    This Review covers the basic physics of thermal emission, ways to engineer the thermal field radiated by hot objects in the far field and applications, such as thermophotovoltaics, radiative cooling, camouflage and privacy.

    • Denis G. Baranov
    • , Yuzhe Xiao
    •  & Mikhail A. Kats

  • Letter |

    Femtosecond pump–probe measurements of Coulomb correlations in WS2/WSe2 heterostructures reveal the interlayer exciton binding energy, determined from the 1s–2p resonance, as well as the dynamics of the conversion of intra- to interlayer excitons.

    • P. Merkl
    • , F. Mooshammer
    •  & R. Huber

  • News & Views |

    Irradiating a PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattice with ultrafast UV light pulses modifies elastic and electrostatic interactions, resulting in the formation of a stable complex 3D supercrystal.

    • J. M. Gregg

  • Article |

    Upon ultrafast irradiation, a (PbTiO3)/(SrTiO3) superlattice transforms into a complex supercrystal that contains periodicities of up to 30 nm in size and is stable in ambient. Creation and destruction, by heating, of the supercrystal is reversible.

    • V. A. Stoica
    • , N. Laanait
    •  & J. W. Freeland

  • News & Views |

    A hybrid state of photons and electronic excitations in semiconductor quantum wells shows nonlinear behaviour at the level of single or few quanta, thus opening the door to the realization of photonic nonlinear quantum devices employing semiconductor technologies.

    • Dario Gerace
    • , Fabrice Laussy
    •  & Daniele Sanvitto

  • Letter |

    Confined exciton–polaritons in semiconductor-based quantum wells can give rise to correlations slightly below the level of classical coincidence counts under resonant excitation, such that single or few polariton excitations are sufficient to modify the statistics of the radiation going through the system.

    • Aymeric Delteil
    • , Thomas Fink
    •  & Ataç İmamoğlu

  • Feature |

    Kiyoshi Miyata and X.-Y. Zhu analyse the ferroelectric-like dielectric response of lead halide perovskites in the terahertz region and discuss the potential role of polar nanodomains in accounting for the defect tolerance and low recombination rates of these materials.

    • Kiyoshi Miyata
    •  & X.-Y. Zhu

  • Feature |

    Heavy atoms and crystal or inversion symmetry breaking may promote Rashba effects in halide perovskites. Sam Stranks and Paulina Plochocka propose experiments to assess the existence of these effects and their implications on the photophysics of perovskites.

    • Samuel D. Stranks
    •  & Paulina Plochocka

  • Letter |

    Isotopic enrichment in hexagonal boron nitride is shown to enhance the propagation properties of phonon polaritons, achieving a threefold enhancement in their lifetime.

    • Alexander J. Giles
    • , Siyuan Dai
    •  & Joshua D. Caldwell

  • Letter |

    Polarization-dependent photoluminescent mapping reveals that excitons — composite particles made of electron–hole pairs bound by the Coulomb force — exhibit the Hall effect, which originates from the large exciton Berry curvature.

    • Masaru Onga
    • , Yijin Zhang
    •  & Yoshihiro Iwasa

  • Article |

    Femtosecond laser pulses can induce local bulging or plasma ablation of silk with limited structural damage, thus offering a technique for cutting, patterning, bending and welding of silk with various other materials.

    • Mehra S. Sidhu
    • , Bhupesh Kumar
    •  & Kamal P. Singh

  • News & Views |

    Plasmonic nanolasers embedded in living cells and animal tissues are shown to emit strongly, making them promising potential biocompatible probes.

    • Catherine Alix-Panabières
    •  & Klaus Pantel

  • News & Views |

    Electrical injection into polaritons, built from admixing excitons in carbon nanotubes with light in a surrounding microcavity, has been achieved.

    • Jeremy J. Baumberg

  • News & Views |

    X-ray imaging in three dimensions is now possible from a set of 2D coherent Bragg diffraction patterns. This approach overcomes the necessity of having to rotate the sample for a 3D reconstruction.

    • Ian Robinson
    •  & Xiaojing Huang

  • Review Article |

    This Review discusses the properties of polariton modes (plasmon, phonon and exciton) in graphene, hexagonal boron nitride and transition metal dichalcogenides for applications across the terahertz to visible spectrum.

    • Tony Low
    • , Andrey Chaves
    •  & Frank Koppens

  • Editorial |

    Commercialization of exciton–polariton research as well as investigation of exciting physical phenomena in exciton–polariton condensates relies on improving material properties.

  • Commentary |

    Although exciton–polariton lasers have been experimentally demonstrated in a variety of material systems, robust practical implementations are still challenging. Similarities with atomic Bose–Einstein condensates make the system suitable for chip-based quantum simulators for non-trivial many-body physics.

    • Michael D. Fraser
    • , Sven Höfling
    •  & Yoshihisa Yamamoto

  • Letter |

    A device is presented that can detect mid-infrared plasmons in graphene encapsulated by hexagonal boron nitride via the thermoelectric effect; the natural decay product of the plasmons (electronic heat) is converted into a measurable voltage signal.

    • Mark B. Lundeberg
    • , Yuanda Gao
    •  & Frank H. L. Koppens

  • News & Views |

    Ultra-low-power electronic switching of stable exciton–polariton spin states has now been achieved in a semiconductor microcavity. This opens a new route to the integration of spin-based photonics and electronics.

    • T. C. H. Liew

  • Review Article |

    This review discusses exciton–polaritons in microcavities and their emerging technological applications, with emphasis on the materials challenges for operation at room temperature.

    • Daniele Sanvitto
    •  & Stéphane Kéna-Cohen

  • News & Views |

    Laser-generated exciton–polariton condensates in transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures may trigger Cooper pairing of electrons and induce high-temperature superconductivity.

    • Alexey Kavokin
    •  & Pavlos Lagoudakis

  • News & Views |

    Researchers have experimentally demonstrated a new type of pathway for electromagnetic waves, which allows an easy reconfiguration into various shapes while significantly suppressing backscattering.

    • Bo Zhen
    •  & Marin Soljačić

  • Progress Article |

    A review on toroidal excitations, from static toroidal moments in condensed matter, to dynamic toroidal multipoles demonstrated experimentally with metamaterials.

    • N. Papasimakis
    • , V. A. Fedotov
    •  & N. I. Zheludev

  • News & Views |

    The propagation of plasmons in graphene–hexagonal boron nitride moiré patterns is experimentally studied for the first time via infrared scattering near-field optical spectroscopy.

    • Marco Polini
    •  & Frank H. L. Koppens

  • Article |

    Graphene/hBN moiré superlattices exhibit a new set of Dirac mini-bands, whose interband transitions—together with free electrons in the ordinary Dirac bands—modify the nature of the plasmons, as revealed by infrared near-field microscopy.

    • G. X. Ni
    • , H. Wang
    •  & D. N. Basov

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