Optics and photonics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    In microscopy, the standard quantum limit represents the best achievable signal-to-noise ratio for a given light intensity. Here, the authors build an optical microscope that uses entanglement between photon pairs to overcome this barrier.

    • Takafumi Ono
    • , Ryo Okamoto
    •  & Shigeki Takeuchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Radiation sources driven by laser-plasma accelerators have the potential to produce shorter bursts of radiation at lower cost than those based on conventional accelerators. Schnell et al.demonstrate the ability to control the polarization of the bursts of hard X-rays produced by such a source.

    • Michael Schnell
    • , Alexander Sävert
    •  & Christian Spielmann

  • Article |

    Time-reversal symmetry breaking opens up new options for magnetic-free integrated photonic non-reciprocal devices. Introducing angular momentum biasing as a form of time-reversal symmetry breaking, Sounas et al. achieve spatiotemporal modulations that give rise to a large non-reciprocal response at subwavelength scales.

    • Dimitrios L. Sounas
    • , Christophe Caloz
    •  & Andrea Alù

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum state preparation of mesoscopic objects is a powerful tool for the study of physics at the limits. Here, Arita et al. realise the optical trapping of a microgyroscope rotating at MHz rates in vacuum where the coupling between the rotational and translational motion cools the particle to 40 K.

    • Yoshihiko Arita
    • , Michael Mazilu
    •  & Kishan Dholakia

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Carrier multiplication effects are of promise for enhancement of solar cells, but have been difficult to exploit in such devices. Here, the authors demonstrate how carrier multiplication in quantum-dot films can be considerably enhanced by appropriate tuning of the charge-carrier mobility.

    • C. S. Suchand Sandeep
    • , Sybren ten Cate
    •  & Laurens D. A. Siebbeles

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Semiconductor nanocrystals are of interest for microlasers that, for example, can be used for integrated photonics applications. Here, Grivas et al.demonstrate single-mode lasing in the single-exciton regime from core/shell CdSe/CdS quantum rods deposited on a single silica microsphere.

    • Christos Grivas
    • , Chunyong Li
    •  & Pavlos Lagoudakis

  • Article |

    Nonlinear interactions of single photons are important for future quantum technologies, but they are weak and hard to detect. By performing sum-frequency generation between single photons and single-photon level coherent states, Guerreiro et al. show that high-efficiency waveguides can overcome this.

    • T. Guerreiro
    • , E. Pomarico
    •  & N. Gisin

  • Article |

    Flexible CdTe solar cells on metal foil substrates are promising for low-cost roll-to-roll fabrication, but their efficiency is usually low because of their inverted structure. By controlling the doping of the CdTe layer with copper, Kranz et al. show that efficiencies up to 13.6% can be obtained.

    • Lukas Kranz
    • , Christina Gretener
    •  & Ayodhya N. Tiwari

  • Article |

    Indium tin oxide, the predominant material used as transparent electrodes in organic LEDs, is expensive and brittle. Ning Li and colleagues form transparent electrodes using single-layer graphene to construct organic LEDs with unprecedented performance that are suitable for both displays and lighting.

    • Ning Li
    • , Satoshi Oida
    •  & Tze-Chiang Chen

  • Article |

    Plasmonics offers sub-diffraction limit optical devices, but multiple functionalities are difficult to build in the solid state. By combining it with fluidics, Zhao et al. present a tunable and reconfigurable plasmonic lens using laser-controllable bubble formation in a microfluidic environment.

    • Chenglong Zhao
    • , Yongmin Liu
    •  & Tony Jun Huang

  • Article |

    Customizing the output from a laser is typically done by appropriate optical elements. Here Ngcobo et al.show that a digitally controlled holographic mirror placed within the laser cavity can be used to dynamically select the desired laser output modes.

    • Sandile Ngcobo
    • , Igor Litvin
    •  & Andrew Forbes

  • Article |

    Silicon nanospheres could be of interest for applications in electronics and optoelectronics. Here, Gumenniket al. demonstrate a nanosphere fabrication process based on an optical fibre drawing technique that is able to produce p and n-type spheres paired into rectifying bispherical junctions.

    • Alexander Gumennik
    • , Lei Wei
    •  & Yoel Fink

  • Article |

    Bulk heterojunctions based on semiconducting polymers blended with fullerenes are promising for organic solar cells. Liet al.show that an additional light exposure step during fabrication increases their thermal stability and can lead to enhanced device performance.

    • Zhe Li
    • , Him Cheng Wong
    •  & João T. Cabral

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Electrically insulating ligands and doping of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals continue to be significant challenges for practical nanocrystal-based optoelectronics. Wheeler et al.demonstrate a new surface chemistry technique that confronts both of these challenges simultaneously.

    • Lance M. Wheeler
    • , Nathan R. Neale
    •  & Uwe R. Kortshagen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Near-field effects generated by nanoantennas provide insights into light–matter interactions and new ways of sensing at low concentrations. By measuring characteristic vibrations from molecular patches, Dregely et al.are able to characterize the field intensity of buried three-dimensional nanostructures.

    • Daniel Dregely
    • , Frank Neubrech
    •  & Harald Giessen

  • Article |

    Future quantum communication technologies require entanglement between stationary and flying qubits, in systems that are inherently scalable. To this end, De Greveet al.present full state tomography of a qubit pair formed by entangling a quantum dot spin and a photon, with a fidelity of over 90%.

    • Kristiaan De Greve
    • , Peter L. McMahon
    •  & Yoshihisa Yamamoto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phonon lasers are the acoustic equivalent to optical lasers. Here Maryam and colleagues study the dynamics of semiconductor phonon lasers operating in the terahertz frequency regime, and show that these dynamics are similar to that of comparable optical lasers.

    • W. Maryam
    • , A. V. Akimov
    •  & A. J. Kent

  • Article |

    Ultrafast laser pulses are useful to study electron dynamics in chemical bonds, but their influence on bond breaking is not fully understood. Wu et al. study H2 bond breaking with coincidence techniques, and find a phase-dependent anisotropy of the H+fragmentation even for isotropic multicycle laser pulses.

    • J. Wu
    • , M. Magrakvelidze
    •  & R. Dörner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Finding ways to accumulate electronic spins of a given polarization in a given location is important to the development of spintronics. Endres et al.demonstrate a device that uses light to drive the accumulation of spin using a similar principle that a solar cell uses to drive the accumulation of charge.

    • B. Endres
    • , M. Ciorga
    •  & C.H. Back

  • Article |

    Controlling p-wave interactions between fermions would enable studies of interesting quantum phenomena. Towards this end, Juliá-Díaz et al. propose a combination of strongly confined nanoplasmonic traps and laser-induced gauge fields that could produce the necessary coupling of atomic states.

    • B. Juliá-Díaz
    • , T. Graß
    •  & M. Lewenstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microwaves are of interest for applications such as communications, radar and metrology. Here, Li et al. demonstrate an on-chip microresonator device for the generation of microwaves by optical means, instead of the usual electronic devices.

    • Jiang Li
    • , Hansuek Lee
    •  & Kerry J. Vahala

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Atom interferometers exploit wave-particle duality and can be used as sensitive measurement devices. Berrada et al.present a Mach–Zehnder interferometer for Bose–Einstein condensates trapped on an atom chip and demonstrate enhanced performance using non-classical states.

    • T. Berrada
    • , S. van Frank
    •  & J Schmiedmayer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Algae beds are a promising resource for bio-energy and gas production, but their productivity is often limited by solar energy harvesting efficiency. Wondraczek et al. promote algal growth by using photoluminescent phosphor, which shifts the light spectrum to better match the algal adsorption band.

    • Lothar Wondraczek
    • , Miroslaw Batentschuk
    •  & Christoph J. Brabec

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The fabrication of three-dimensional nanoscale structures is important to nanophotonic applications where light is guided and controlled. The optical beam lithography scheme developed by Gan and colleagues enables the fabrication of three-dimensional structures with feature sizes down to 9 nm.

    • Zongsong Gan
    • , Yaoyu Cao
    •  & Min Gu

  • Article |

    Compact, tunable terahertz sources are highly desired for sensing and imaging applications. Here Vijayraghavan et al. demonstrate room-temperature quantum cascade laser sources based on the non-linear optical conversion of mid-infrared light that provide a tunable output over a 3.5-THz bandwidth.

    • Karun Vijayraghavan
    • , Yifan Jiang
    •  & Mikhail A. Belkin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ferroelectric RAM is considered a promising candidate on the quest for a universal memory, but the concept is still problem prone. Here, the authors use the ferroelectric photovoltaic effect as a non-destructive read-out method for a new prototype memory, which shows good data retention and fatigue resistance.

    • Rui Guo
    • , Lu You
    •  & Junling Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Laser-plasma accelerators can produce high-energy electron bunches over just a few centimetres of distance, offering possible table-top accelerator capabilities. Wang et al.break the current 1 GeV barrier by applying a petawatt laser to accelerate electrons nearly monoenergetically up to 2 GeV.

    • Xiaoming Wang
    • , Rafal Zgadzaj
    •  & M. C. Downer

  • Article |

    Light–sound interactions in microcavities are used for optomechanical excitation and cooling, but have previously only been shown in solid-state devices. Here, Bahl et al. generate acoustic oscillations in microfluidic resonators to enable novel optomechanical interactions with liquid-phase materials.

    • Gaurav Bahl
    • , Kyu Hyun Kim
    •  & Tal Carmon

  • Article |

    Polymer light-emitting diodes promise cheap and flexible lighting and displays, but their fabrication is hindered by high-vacuum methods for creating cathodes. Zheng et al.show an all-solution processing approach to polymer diodes that removes this obstacle, offering roll-to-roll fabrication of devices.

    • Hua Zheng
    • , Yina Zheng
    •  & Yong Cao

  • Article |

    The transfer of spin polarization from electrons to nuclei is important for nuclear spin-based techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance. Here Wang and colleagues achieve sensitive magnetic control of the hyperpolarization of nuclei near optically polarized nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond.

    • Hai-Jing Wang
    • , Chang S. Shin
    •  & Vikram S. Bajaj

  • Article |

    By patterning graphene with sub-wavelength features to introduce plasmonic modes, its optical properties can be tailored. Freitag et al. show how tunable plasmons in graphene nanoribbons can be exploited to form polarization-sensitive graphene photodetectors in the mid-infrared spectral region.

    • Marcus Freitag
    • , Tony Low
    •  & Phaedon Avouris

  • Article |

    Lenses are well-understood optical instruments to focus light. The flame lens realized here by Michaelis et al. offers light focusing with a damage threshold several orders of magnitude higher than that of most conventional lenses.

    • Max M. Michaelis
    • , Cosmas Mafusire
    •  & Andrew Forbes

  • Article |

    Ultrafast lasers are important in many fields of science, but they typically have high power consumption. Here Eigenwillig et al.realize picosecond laser pulses directly from a semiconductor-based laser. Due to the low repetition rate, high-energy pulses are generated at low average power.

    • Christoph M. Eigenwillig
    • , Wolfgang Wieser
    •  & Robert Huber

  • Article |

    Single-crystal organic semiconductors are potential materials for electronic applications, for example, as field-effect transistors. Here, the authors demonstrate photoconductivity of single-crystal charge-transfer interfaces, suggesting that they may also be used for photonic applications.

    • Helena Alves
    • , Rui M. Pinto
    •  & Ermelinda S. Maçôas

  • Article |

    Graphene holds great potential for use in photodetectors, owing to its ability to absorb light over a wide range of wavelengths. Here Zhang et al. report a large photoresponsivity of 8.6 AW-1 over a broad wavelength range in pure monolayer graphene.

    • By Yongzhe Zhang
    • , Tao Liu
    •  & Qi Jie Wang

  • Article |

    Exciton-polaritons—coupled states of excitons and photons—exhibit interesting properties that may make them suitable as information carriers for optical computing technologies. With this goal in mind, Ballarini et al. demonstrate an all-optical polariton transistor that also operates as a logic gate.

    • D. Ballarini
    • , M. De Giorgi
    •  & D. Sanvitto

  • Article |

    The high-speed, large-area printing of aligned semiconducting nanowires is vital for practical device applications. Here, the authors use a high-speed printing technique to print semiconducting nanowire arrays onto device substrates with precise nanowire control, and high field-effect mobilities are observed.

    • Sung-Yong Min
    • , Tae-Sik Kim
    •  & Tae-Woo Lee

  • Article |

    Free-electron lasers offer exciting new possibilities for X-ray studies on ultrafast timescales, but their shot-to-shot variability requires new diagnostic tools. Using a plasma switch cross-correlator, Riedel et al. present a single-shot online diagnostic to retrieve the duration of extreme ultraviolet pulses.

    • R. Riedel
    • , A. Al-Shemmary
    •  & F. Tavella

  • Article |

    Solitons are waves, occurring in systems such as water channels and optical fibres that preserve their shape as they travel. Here the observation of solitons in multimode optical fibres offers a platform for studying spatiotemporal wave packets, and could allow high peak power transmission along with increased data rates in low-cost telecommunications.

    • W. H. Renninger
    •  & F. W. Wise

  • Article |

    The control of thermal radiation is important for applications such as energy conversion and radiative cooling. Here Fan et al. demonstrate a thermal extraction scheme that can enhance the emission of a finite-sized blackbody-like emitter.

    • Zongfu Yu
    • , Nicholas P. Sergeant
    •  & Shanhui Fan

  • Article |

    Ptychographic methods can retrieve the complex sample transmittance from diffraction patterns that may have a large dynamic range. For soft X-ray spectromicroscopy, Maiden et al. use a diffuser to randomize the probe phase, reducing the dynamic range of the diffraction data by an order of magnitude.

    • A.M. Maiden
    • , G.R. Morrison
    •  & J.M. Rodenburg

  • Article |

    The strong electro-optical response of BaTiO3 could be useful for making high-speed switches for optical telecommunications. Abel et al. demonstrate the ability to maintain this response in BaTiO3films grown directly onto silicon, extending its potential to the development of silicon photonics.

    • Stefan Abel
    • , Thilo Stöferle
    •  & Jean Fompeyrine

  • Article |

    Diamond is of interest for optical and electronic applications owing to its unique mechanical and optical properties. Here, Rath et al. demonstrate the use of small nanometre-sized beams etched from diamond thin films for integrated photonic circuits.

    • Patrik Rath
    • , Svetlana Khasminskaya
    •  & Wolfram H.P. Pernice

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