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Researchers at Peking University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology propose the use of strain engineering to create a broadband solar 'funnel' in an atomically thin sheet of MoS2.
Tandem solar cells, inverted triple-junction solar cells and photonic-crystal-based solar cells were among the photovoltaic devices discussed at the 73rd Autumn Meeting of the Japan Society of Applied Physics.
Silicon photonics and devices based on group IV elements are overcoming the tough economic downturns that have rocked industry over the past 12 years. Cross fertilization between academia and industry may lead to new devices that are both innovative and profitable.
The opening of the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics in Glasgow will provide valuable and much-needed support for the photonics industry in the UK.
Researchers can now remove 36 electrons from a xenon atom using a pulse of high-energy photons from a free-electron laser. Nature Photonics spoke with Daniel Rolles to learn about the process and why the ionization is stronger than expected.
Fifty years ago, researchers at a handful of laboratories around the world were reporting lasing from the first semiconductor lasers. Our IT infrastructure today relies on their diligence and success.
Increasing demand for raw materials means that alternatives to indium-tin oxide are desired for optically transparent electrode applications. Carbon nanotube, metal nanowire networks and regular metal grids have been investigated as possible options. In this review, these materials and recently rediscovered graphene are compared with the usual transparent conductive oxides.
Scientists demonstrate a simple approach for separating a nonlinearly generated attosecond pulse train into multiple beams of isolated attosecond pulses that propagate in different and controlled directions away from the plasma surface. The approach involves rotating the propagation direction of an intense few-cycle laser field as it interacts with a solid-density plasma.
A highly strained ultrathin membrane of MoS2 could lead to the creation of a solar funnel, a new form of solar cell which absorbs a much broader range of the solar spectrum that a usual single junction device.
Chaotic behaviour is observed in the polarization of the output from a vertical-cavity surface emitting laser without the need for any external stimulus or feedback. The origin is nonlinear coupling between two elliptically polarized modes within the device.
Researchers experimentally demonstrate efficient nanofocusing in gap plasmon waveguides tapered in both transverse dimensions. Two-photon luminescence measurements show an intensity enhancement of 400 within a 14-by-80 nm2 area at the tapers narrow end, with a transmittance of 74%.
Researchers optically control an active medium. Strong light-matter interaction causes superdiffusion that is controllable by the input optical power. The idea may be applied to exploring nonequilibrium thermodynamics of soft-matter or enable new possibilities for the coherent control of strongly coupled, complex systems.
Researchers use single-cycle THz pulses from an optical laser to extend streaking techniques of attosecond metrology to measure the temporal profile and arrival time of individual FEL pulses with ∼5 fs precision.
Video-rate imaging of various types of biological tissue is reported using stimulated Raman scattering microscopy. The label-free scheme offers molecular specificity and frame-by-frame wavelength tunability allowing the creation of 2D and 3D images of samples showing different constituents.
A photoelectrochemical cell made from combining a dye sensitized solar cell with a semiconductor-oxide photoanode is demonstrated to perform water splitting with an efficiency of up to 3.1%. As the scheme uses relatively inexpensive materials and fabrication techniques it could provide a cost effective approach to hydrogen production.
Researchers bring together silk and photonic crystals and report the manufacturing of robust, freestanding, three-dimensional photonic crystals with different lattice constants in the structural form of an inverse opal entirely composed of silk fibroin. These silk-based inverse opals add a new dimension at the interface of nanophotonics and biological applications.
Researchers create high ionization states, up to Xe36+, using 1.5 keV free-electron laser pulses. The higher than expected ionization may be due to transient resonance-enhanced absorption and the effect may play an important role in interactions of intense X-rays with high-Z elements and radiation damage.
