Optics and photonics articles within Nature Materials

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  • News & Views |

    Researchers develop a simple and low-cost fabrication method for the production of large-scale all-dielectric metasurfaces, which exhibit near-perfect reflectivity in the telecommunications spectral window.

    • Nicolas Bonod

  • News & Views |

    Now that certified energy conversion efficiencies for perovskite solar cells are above 20%, researchers are exploring other critical areas, such as understanding device hysteresis and film growth, as well as the replacement of lead and the development of tandem cell stacks. Cell stability remains a crucial issue.

    • Martin A. Green
    •  & Thomas Bein

  • Article |

    A concept for the phase control of the nonlinear susceptibility using the left- and right-circular polarization basis for fundamental and harmonic generated light is introduced and tested using metasurfaces containing plasmonic antennas.

    • Guixin Li
    • , Shumei Chen
    •  & Shuang Zhang

  • Research Highlights |

    • Maria Maragkou

  • News & Views |

    The confinement and scattering lifetimes of graphene plasmons are improved when graphene is sandwiched between layers of thin hexagonal boron nitride. This finding should pave the way for nanophotonic applications in the low-loss regime.

    • Joshua D. Caldwell
    •  & Kostya S. Novoselov

  • News & Views |

    When efficient energy transfer under high carrier densities is required, two-dimensional nanoplatelets are the material of choice, combining an exceptional suppression of nonlinear fluorescence quenching with ultrafast transfer capabilities.

    • Iwan Moreels

  • News & Views |

    The coupling of monolayer tungsten diselenide and a photonic-crystal cavity leads to ultralow-threshold lasing.

    • Vinod Menon

  • News & Views |

    The migration of ions under the effect of an external electric field locally modifies the doping of organometal halide perovskite films. This is used to reversibly switch the photocurrent direction in very simple photovoltaic architectures.

    • Nam-Gyu Park

  • Article |

    Harnessing the optical properties of noble metals down to the nanoscale is crucial for fast information processing. Lateral confinement and delocalization of surface plasmons is now observed in self-assembled network chains of fused gold nanoparticles.

    • Alexandre Teulle
    • , Michel Bosman
    •  & Erik Dujardin

  • News & Views |

    Semiconducting quantum dots have been used to harvest triplet excitons produced through singlet fission in organic semiconductors. These hybrid organic–inorganic materials may boost the efficiency of solar cells.

    • Christopher J. Bardeen

  • Article |

    Inspired by Boolean binary algebra, an approach to design electromagnetic metamaterials with desired permittivity by using just two elemental building blocks is demonstrated analytically and numerically.

    • Cristian Della Giovampaola
    •  & Nader Engheta

  • News & Views |

    The dream of printing highly efficient solar cells is closer than ever to being realized. Solvent engineering has enabled the deposition of uniform perovskite semiconductor films that yield greater than 15% power-conversion efficiency.

    • Michael D. McGehee

  • Commentary |

    The rise of metal halide perovskites as light harvesters has stunned the photovoltaic community. As the efficiency race continues, questions on the control of the performance of perovskite solar cells and on its characterization are being addressed.

    • Michael Grätzel

  • Letter |

    The dynamic control of thermal emission via the control of emissivity through intersubband absorption in n-type quantum wells, at a speed four orders of magnitude faster than is currently possible, is now demonstrated.

    • Takuya Inoue
    • , Menaka De Zoysa
    •  & Susumu Noda

  • Letter |

    Until now, it has not been possible to switch chirality in plasmonic nanostructures at will and repeatedly. Now, thanks to DNA-regulated conformational changes, reconfigurable 3D plasmonic metamolecules with switchable chirality have been created.

    • Anton Kuzyk
    • , Robert Schreiber
    •  & Na Liu

  • Article |

    The performance of solar cells based on organic–inorganic perovskites strongly depends on the device architecture and processing conditions. It is now shown that solvent engineering enables the deposition of very dense perovskite layers on mesoporous titania, leading to photovoltaic devices with a high light-conversion efficiency and no hysteresis.

    • Nam Joong Jeon
    • , Jun Hong Noh
    •  & Sang Il Seok

  • Article |

    For high-power white-light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to become a technological reality there is a need to find more efficient red-emitting phosphor materials. Eu2+-doped Sr[LiAl3N4], a member of the nitridoaluminates compound class, is now proved to be a high-performance narrow-band red-emitting phosphor material that can be easily coupled with existing GaN-based blue-LED technology for use in white LEDs.

    • Philipp Pust
    • , Volker Weiler
    •  & Wolfgang Schnick

  • Letter |

    Liquid-crystalline elastomers combine rubber-like elasticity with the optical properties of liquid crystals, yet some of their properties depend on the particular liquid-crystal phase. Now, stretchable gels of the liquid-crystalline blue-phase I are reported. The blue-phase gels are electro-optically switchable under a moderate applied voltage, and their optical properties can be manipulated by an applied strain.

    • F. Castles
    • , S. M. Morris
    •  & H. J. Coles

  • Article |

    Disordered photonic materials have the ability to control the flow of light through random multiple scattering. This has the drawback of randomizing both the direction and phase of the propagating light. Now, confined and interacting light modes are demonstrated for a two-dimensional disordered photonic structure.

    • Francesco Riboli
    • , Niccolò Caselli
    •  & Diederik S. Wiersma

  • News & Views |

    By embedding organic dyes in a suitably designed optical microcavity it is possible to strongly mix light and matter excitations, forming states known as microcavity polaritons. These hybrid light–matter states are used to demonstrate energy transfer between organic molecules over long distances.

    • Russell J. Holmes

  • Article |

    The energy interaction between different exciton species is affected by the optical environment in which they are embedded. It is now shown that mixed exciton–polariton states in strongly coupled microcavities can facilitate energy transfer between organic dyes at length scales greater than the Förster transfer radius.

    • David M. Coles
    • , Niccolo Somaschi
    •  & David G. Lidzey

  • Letter |

    A strategy to overcome the maximum theoretical efficiency limit of single-junction solar cells is to realize stacked, multi-junction cells that are used under highly concentrated light. Now, a printing-based, scalable approach for the assembly of multi-junction solar cells in concentrator photovoltaic modules that reach a high power conversion efficiency is reported.

    • Xing Sheng
    • , Christopher A. Bower
    •  & John A. Rogers

  • News & Views |

    The macroscopic alignment of dilute dispersions of graphene oxide can be controlled, with extremely large optical sensitivity, through the application of weak electric fields.

    • Ju Young Kim
    •  & Sang Ouk Kim

  • Article |

    Optical amplifiers based on erbium ions typically require high pump power densities to produce gain. Now, an organic optical amplifier material composed of erbium ions and a zinc-based organic chromophore is demonstrated to reach population inversion using low-power visible light.

    • H. Q. Ye
    • , Z. Li
    •  & W. P. Gillin

  • News & Views |

    The experimental observation of polariton condensates at room temperature in soft organic materials makes the study of quantum condensed phases easily accessible and opens inroads to optoelectronic devices based on macroscopic quantum phenomena.

    • Pavlos Lagoudakis

  • Review Article |

    Metamaterials are artificially fabricated materials that allow for the control of light and acoustic waves in a manner that is not possible in nature. This Review covers the recent developments in the study of so-called metasurfaces, which offer the possibility of controlling light with ultrathin, planar optical components.

    • Nanfang Yu
    •  & Federico Capasso

  • News & Views |

    The energetic and kinetic behaviours of water-oxidation catalysts deposited on semiconductor electrodes are probed in situ, elucidating the junction formed between them, and transforming the design principles of the catalysts.

    • Thomas W. Hamann

  • Letter |

    The photoluminescent properties of electron spins at nitrogen–vacancy (NV) centres are promising for use in quantum information and magnetometry. It is now shown that the coherence times of NV centres in nanodiamonds can be engineered to be comparable to those of bulk diamond.

    • Helena S. Knowles
    • , Dhiren M. Kara
    •  & Mete Atatüre

  • Article |

    The efficiency of organic blends used for photovoltaic applications depends on their ability to convert photoexcited charges into free holes and electrons. It is now demonstrated that the lowermost energetic states formed at the donor/acceptor interface can reach conversion efficiencies close to 100%, and therefore do not behave as traps for charge carriers.

    • Koen Vandewal
    • , Steve Albrecht
    •  & Alberto Salleo

  • News & Views |

    A study on the subtle interplay between electronic structure and structural defects now explains why the suppression of conduction in the insulating state of bilayer graphene is not as strong as might be expected. It also reveals the possibility of creating graphene-based nanoscale systems with unique electronic properties.

    • Philip Hofmann

  • News & Views |

    Photoexcited diamond can inject highly energetic electrons in solution and promote the catalysis of a broad range of chemical reactions.

    • Christoph E. Nebel

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