Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The journey to realize a terahertz quantum cascade laser that operates at room temperature has taken a jump forward with news of a device that operates at –23 °C, within the reach of Peltier coolers.
Two independent reports of directly modulated lasers with bandwidths of >60 GHz may help bring data rates beyond 200 Gb s–1 to low-cost optical communication systems. Key to the successes has been managing photonic feedback effects within the laser cavities.
Directly modulated semiconductor lasers are shown to be able to operate with bandwidths exceeding 65 GHz thanks to a cavity design that harnesses photon–photon resonances.
The first demonstration of an optical parametric oscillator using a photonic crystal microcavity is promising for the future development of on-chip light sources for applications in integrated quantum optics.
A theoretical and experimental study of the transverse spin appearing in non-paraxial light when the source is totally unpolarized is reported, in sharp contrast to the usual longitudinal spin, which is directly related to the 2D polarization and vanishes in unpolarized fields.
Photonic crystal-based optical parametric oscillators have remained elusive but have finally been demonstrated. Operating at telecom wavelengths, the source may prove particularly useful in quantum optics applications.
Single-pass optical parametric amplification is demonstrated following propagation though an atomically thin semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenide. The demonstration may lead to atom-sized tunable light sources.
Using a gas-filled anti-resonant-reflection photonic-crystal fibre, a high-brightness table-top source of coherent carrier-envelope-phase-stable waveforms is demonstrated across seven octaves (340 nm to 40,000 nm) with ultraviolet peak powers up to 2.5 MW and terahertz peak powers of 1.8 MW, without the need for changing nonlinear crystals.
An epsilon-near-zero medium is used to demonstrate ultrastrong coupling between phonons and gap plasmons. The approach may pave the path to exploitation of vibrational transitions.
Researchers demonstrate vectorial optomechanical effects using a nematic liquid crystal and report creation of multiple self-induced lenses from a single beam.
Energy resolution of high-energy photon detectors is desired for applications ranging from biomedical imaging to homeland security. In this work, perovskite-based γ-ray detection with 1.4% energy resolution is demonstrated.
A spin–orbit coupling effect in photonic graphene made of coupled polaritonic microcavities is experimentally realized, revealing the unique fine structure of the eigenstates around the Dirac points, with the formation of a Dresselhaus-like effective magnetic field that can be mapped to a non-Abelian gauge field.
Distributed quantum metrology is demonstrated for both individual and averaged phase shifts by using discrete-variable entangled photons. An error reduction of 4.7 dB below the shot-noise limit is achieved when a total number of photon passes is 21.
The potential of machine-learning application to the field of ultrafast photonics is reviewed, with key examples including pulsed lasers, and control and characterization of ultrafast propagation dynamics.
By focusing a sub-relativistic infrared laser pulse onto a silica target, a periodic deflection pattern of attosecond electron pulse trains is observed. It reveals these subcycle charge dynamics with a streaking speed of ~60 μrad as−1.
Real-space mid-infrared nanoimaging reveals vibrational strong coupling between molecules and propagating phonon polaritons in unstructured, thin hexagonal boron nitride layers, which could provide a platform for testing strong coupling and local control of chemical properties.