Focus 26 January 2021

Optics and photonics

Optics and photonics seek to both explain physical phenomena and enable practical development of technologies through the understanding and manipulation of light. This page highlights recent engaging work in the areas of optics and photonics, ranging from optical physics, materials, imaging, and communications, to techniques, integration and applications, at all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Featured articles

Electrical spectroscopy of polaritonic nanoresonators

Polaritons are confined hybrid light-matter excitations holding potential for optoelectronic and sensing applications, but their characterization is usually limited to optical spectroscopy. Here, the authors report the electrical spectroscopy of mid-infrared plasmon-phonon polaritons in Au/hBN/graphene nanoresonators, showing high lateral confinement and quality factors.
- Sebastián Castilla
- Hitesh Agarwal
- Frank H. L. Koppens
ArticleOpen Access5 Oct 2024 Nature Communications
Deterministic positioning and alignment of a single-molecule exciton in plasmonic nanodimer for strong coupling

Realising single molecule strong coupling with plasmons achieving both deterministic molecule positioning and dipole alignment with the mode field has proven challenging so far. Here, the authors fill this gap by placing a single molecular emitter in the gap centre of an Au nanodimer system.
- Renming Liu
- Ming Geng
- Lin Wu
ArticleOpen Access16 May 2024 Nature Communications
Indistinguishable photons from an artificial atom in silicon photonics

Silicon is a very convenient platform for quantum photonic sources. Here, the authors realise an indistinguishable single-photon source in silicon photonics based on an artificial atom, performing high-resolution spectroscopy and time-delayed two-photon interference to probe the coherence of emitted photons.
- Lukasz Komza
- Polnop Samutpraphoot
- Alp Sipahigil
ArticleOpen Access13 Aug 2024 Nature Communications
Strong microwave squeezing above 1 Tesla and 1 Kelvin

At the quantum limit, vacuum fluctuations determine the precision with which a signal can be measured. In this work the authors use a technique known as squeezing to greatly reduce the vacuum fluctuation noise present at microwave frequencies.
- Arjen Vaartjes
- Anders Kringhøj
- Jarryd J. Pla
ArticleOpen Access18 May 2024 Nature Communications
Hermitian and non-Hermitian topology from photon-mediated interactions

Topological properties of a photonic environment are crucial to engineer robust photon-mediated interactions between quantum emitters. Here, the authors find general theorems on the topology of photon-mediated interactions, unveiling the phenomena of topological preservation and reversal.
- Federico Roccati
- Miguel Bello
- Angelo Carollo
ArticleOpen Access16 Mar 2024 Nature Communications
Wandering principal optical axes in van der Waals triclinic materials

Principal optical axes define light-matter interactions in crystals and they are usually assumed to be stationary. Here, the authors report the observation of wavelength-dependent principal optical axes in ternary van der Waals crystals (ReS₂ and ReSe₂), leading to wavelength-switchable propagation directions of their waveguide modes.
- Georgy A. Ermolaev
- Kirill V. Voronin
- Kostya S. Novoselov
ArticleOpen Access6 Mar 2024 Nature Communications
Giant intrinsic photovoltaic effect in one-dimensional van der Waals grain boundaries

The intrinsic photovoltaic effect (IPVE) in noncentrosymmetric materials has the potential to overcome the limitations of traditional photovoltaic devices. Here, the authors report the observation of a strong and gate-tunable IPVE in 1D grain boundaries of a van der Waals semiconductor, ReS₂.
- Yongheng Zhou
- Xin Zhou
- Xiaolong Chen
ArticleOpen Access13 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
Nanophotonics for pair production

The authors propose electron-positron creation by scattering of gamma-rays and polaritons, enabling the synthesis of ultrafast, localized positron sources and introducing the possibility to exploit nanophotonics for particle physics.
- Valerio Di Giulio
- F. Javier García de Abajo
ArticleOpen Access11 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
Integrated microwave photonic notch filter using a heterogeneously integrated Brillouin and active-silicon photonic circuit

Microwave photonic technologies are poised to revolutionise electronic systems. Here the authors integrate necessary but until now elusive, MHz-level resolution photonic processing with on-chip electro-optic components in a compact microwave photonic notch filter.
- Matthew Garrett
- Yang Liu
- Benjamin J. Eggleton
ArticleOpen Access20 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
Planar hyperbolic polaritons in 2D van der Waals materials

In this Perspective, the authors illustrate the physics of hyperbolic polaritons in anisotropic 2D and 1D materials, proposing new potential material candidates, forward looking opportunities and technological applications.
- Hongwei Wang
- Anshuman Kumar
- Tony Low
PerspectiveOpen Access2 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
Integrated quantum optical phase sensor in thin film lithium niobate

Squeezed light allows for quantum-enhanced, sub-shot-noise sensing, but its generation and use on a chip has so far remained elusive. Here, the authors fill this gap by demonstrating a thin-film lithium-niobate-based integrated quantum optical sensor, which beats shot-noise-limited SNR by ~ 4%.
- Hubert S. Stokowski
- Timothy P. McKenna
- Amir H. Safavi-Naeini
ArticleOpen Access8 Jun 2023 Nature Communications
All-silicon quantum light source by embedding an atomic emissive center in a nanophotonic cavity

The use of silicon for integrated quantum photonic technologies is currently hindered by the lack of suitable on-demand quantum light sources. Here, the authors fill this gap by demonstrating the creation of single atomic emissive centers in silicon and their efficient coupling with nanophotonic cavities.
- W. Redjem
- Y. Zhiyenbayev
- B. Kanté
ArticleOpen Access7 Jun 2023 Nature Communications
Unveiling the complexity of spatiotemporal soliton molecules in real time

The authors present the real-time spectral-temporal dynamics of 3D soliton molecules, highlighting the importance of nonlinear spatiotemporal coupling in the dynamics of spatiotemporal mode-locking.
- Yuankai Guo
- Wei Lin
- Zhongmin Yang
ArticleOpen Access11 Apr 2023 Nature Communications
High-order tensor flow processing using integrated photonic circuits

Convolutional operation is a very efficient way to handle tensor analytics, but it consumes a large quantity of additional memory. Here, the authors demonstrate an integrated photonic tensor processor which directly handles high-order tensors without tensor-matrix transformation.
- Shaofu Xu
- Jing Wang
- Weiwen Zou
ArticleOpen Access28 Dec 2022 Nature Communications
Photonic Majorana quantum cascade laser with polarization-winding emission

THz integrate light sources represent an important building blocks for various applications. Here the authors report an electrically driven topological laser based on photonic Majorana zero mode that can convert electricity directly into THz single-mode laser with topologically nontrivial beams.
- Song Han
- Yunda Chua
- Qi Jie Wang
ArticleOpen Access9 Feb 2023 Nature Communications
Mirror-induced reflection in the frequency domain

We show frequency domain mirrors that provide reflections of optical mode propagation in the frequency domain. We theoretically investigated the mirror properties and experimentally demonstrate it using polarization and coupled-resonator-based coupling on thin film Lithium Niobate.
- Yaowen Hu
- Mengjie Yu
- Marko Lončar
ArticleOpen Access22 Oct 2022 Nature Communications
Chip-scale high-peak-power semiconductor/solid-state vertically integrated laser

Here the authors demonstrate chip-scale high-peak-power lasers by vertical integration of semiconductor and solid state laser gain mediums to reach the same maturity level as existing semiconductor lasers, which are suitable for miniaturization and cost-effective mass production.
- Jianglin Yue
- Kenji Tanaka
- Masanao Kamata
ArticleOpen Access1 Oct 2022 Nature Communications
Phototunable chip-scale topological photonics: 160 Gbps waveguide and demultiplexer for THz 6G communication

6G communication requires high-speed and advanced functionalities on-chip. Here the authors demonstrate broadband phototunable topological waveguide and demultiplexing chip with record single-channel 160 Gbit/s communication link and excellent channel isolation for 300 GHz band.
- Abhishek Kumar
- Manoj Gupta
- Ranjan Singh
ArticleOpen Access15 Sep 2022 Nature Communications
An Archimedes' screw for light

An Archimedes’ screw pumps energy into a fluid by lifting it to a higher ground. An optical screw uses helical space-time modulations in the properties of a material to grab hold of and amplify circularly polarized light of a specific handedness.
- Emanuele Galiffi
- Paloma A. Huidobro
- J. B. Pendry
ArticleOpen Access9 May 2022 Nature Communications
Optical-domain spectral super-resolution via a quantum-memory-based time-frequency processor

Spectral super-resolution methods generally apply only to laser spectroscopy. Here, thanks to a Gradient Echo Memory with time-frequency processing capabilities, the authors are able to resolve frequency differences with precision below the Fourier limit for narrowband and ultra-low input-light level.
- Mateusz Mazelanik
- Adam Leszczyński
- Michał Parniak
ArticleOpen Access4 Feb 2022 Nature Communications
Single-photon detection and cryogenic reconfigurability in lithium niobate nanophotonic circuits

The combination of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors and electro-optically reconfigurable circuits in a cryogenic environment is notoriously difficult to reach. Here, the authors realise this on a Lithium-Niobate-On-Insulator platform, reaching high speed modulation at a frequency up to 1 GHz.
- Emma Lomonte
- Martin A. Wolff
- Francesco Lenzini
ArticleOpen Access25 Nov 2021 Nature Communications
Integrated near-infrared spectral sensing

What are the minimal hardware requirements for a given class of sensing problems? Here, authors investigate this while proposing a miniaturized near-infrared spectral sensor, based on an array of resonant-cavity enhanced photodetectors, and capable of operating without the need for spectral reconstruction.
- Kaylee D. Hakkel
- Maurangelo Petruzzella
- Andrea Fiore
ArticleOpen Access10 Jan 2022 Nature Communications
Reprogrammable plasmonic topological insulators with ultrafast control

The development of fast and dynamic topological photonic platforms is an ongoing challenge. Here, the authors demonstrate a reprogrammable plasmonic topological insulator in which ultrafast electric switches allow for nanosecond-level switching time between different configurations.
- Jian Wei You
- Qian Ma
- Tie Jun Cui
ArticleOpen Access15 Sep 2021 Nature Communications
Planar refraction and lensing of highly confined polaritons in anisotropic media

Refraction between anisotropic media is still an unexplored phenomenon. Here, the authors investigate the propagation of hyperbolic phonon polaritons traversing α-MoO3 nanoprisms, showing a bending-free refraction effect and sub-diffractional focusing with foci size as small as 1/50 of the light wavelength in free space.
- J. Duan
- G. Álvarez-Pérez
- P. Alonso-González
ArticleOpen Access15 Jul 2021 Nature Communications
Polarization-transparent silicon photonic add-drop multiplexer with wideband hitless tuneability

Reconfigurable wavelength-selective devices are essential components of flexible optical networks. Here the authors show a silicon-photonic add-drop multiplexer meeting the strict requirements of telecom systems in terms of broadband operation range, hitless tunability and polarization transparency.
- Francesco Morichetti
- Maziyar Milanizadeh
- Andrea Melloni
ArticleOpen Access15 Jul 2021 Nature Communications
Peta-bit-per-second optical communications system using a standard cladding diameter 15-mode fiber

Space division multiplexing solutions are one way to increase future fiber information capacity. Here, the authors show peta-bit/s transmission in a standard-diameter, multimode fiber enabled by combining several practical multiplexing technologies.
- Georg Rademacher
- Benjamin J. Puttnam
- Hideaki Furukawa
ArticleOpen Access9 Jul 2021 Nature Communications
Spatial coherence of light inside three-dimensional media

Light in disordered materials generates rich interference patterns called speckle, whose properties are known only on the outside of a sample. Here, the authors provide direct measurements and understanding of speckle generated inside a material, retrieving fundamental information that remained inaccessible up to now.
- Marco Leonetti
- Lorenzo Pattelli
- Giancarlo Ruocco
ArticleOpen Access7 Jul 2021 Nature Communications
Semiconductor core fibres: materials science in a bottle

The application space for optical fibers is growing, enabled by fibers built using special materials and processes. In this Review, the authors discuss the materials science behind producing crystalline core fibers for diverse applications and progress in the field.
- Ursula J. Gibson
- Lei Wei
- John Ballato
Review ArticleOpen Access28 Jun 2021 Nature Communications
Optical force mapping at the single-nanometre scale

Direct visualisation of 3D vector distributions of photoinduced fields can shed light on the optical and mechanical behaviour of different materials. Here, the authors demonstrate such visualisation using photoinduced force microscopy by observing the optical gradient force at the nanometer scale.
- Junsuke Yamanishi
- Hidemasa Yamane
- Yasuhiro Sugawara
ArticleOpen Access23 Jun 2021 Nature Communications
Remote whispering metamaterial for non-radiative transceiving of ultra-weak sound

Typically, sending sound from transmitter to receiver requires pre-amplification and disturbs the surrounding sound environment. Here, the authors present a metamaterial designed to enable transmission of weak sound that can be recovered even in the presence of strong noise
- Jin Zhang
- Wei Rui
- Johan Christensen
ArticleOpen Access16 Jun 2021 Nature Communications
3D printable diffractive optical elements by liquid immersion

Diffractive optical elements are broadly used due to their ability to reshape the wavefront efficiently and conveniently. By using liquid immersion, the authors here enable microscale 3D-printed optics to behave like nanoscopic structures while maintaining high performance.
- Reut Orange-Kedem
- Elias Nehme
- Yoav Shechtman
ArticleOpen Access24 May 2021 Nature Communications
Scalable photonic-based nulling interferometry with the dispersed multi-baseline GLINT instrument

Nulling interferometry is a technique combining lights from different telescopes or apertures to observe weak sources nearby bright ones. The authors report the first nulling interferometer implemented in a photonic chip doing spectrally dispersed nulling on several baselines, simultaneously.
- Marc-Antoine Martinod
- Barnaby Norris
- Sergio Leon-Saval
ArticleOpen Access29 Apr 2021 Nature Communications
Arbitrary linear transformations for photons in the frequency synthetic dimension

Photonic processors that can perform arbitrary tasks are in demand for many applications. Here, the authors present a photonic architecture using waveguide and resonator couplings to perform arbitrary linear transformations, by taking advantage of the frequency synthetic dimension.
- Siddharth Buddhiraju
- Avik Dutt
- Shanhui Fan
ArticleOpen Access23 Apr 2021 Nature Communications

Optics and photonics

Featured articles

Electrical spectroscopy of polaritonic nanoresonators

Deterministic positioning and alignment of a single-molecule exciton in plasmonic nanodimer for strong coupling

Indistinguishable photons from an artificial atom in silicon photonics

Strong microwave squeezing above 1 Tesla and 1 Kelvin

Hermitian and non-Hermitian topology from photon-mediated interactions

Wandering principal optical axes in van der Waals triclinic materials

Giant intrinsic photovoltaic effect in one-dimensional van der Waals grain boundaries

Nanophotonics for pair production

Integrated microwave photonic notch filter using a heterogeneously integrated Brillouin and active-silicon photonic circuit

Planar hyperbolic polaritons in 2D van der Waals materials

Integrated quantum optical phase sensor in thin film lithium niobate

All-silicon quantum light source by embedding an atomic emissive center in a nanophotonic cavity

Unveiling the complexity of spatiotemporal soliton molecules in real time

High-order tensor flow processing using integrated photonic circuits

Photonic Majorana quantum cascade laser with polarization-winding emission

Mirror-induced reflection in the frequency domain

Chip-scale high-peak-power semiconductor/solid-state vertically integrated laser

Phototunable chip-scale topological photonics: 160 Gbps waveguide and demultiplexer for THz 6G communication

An Archimedes' screw for light

Optical-domain spectral super-resolution via a quantum-memory-based time-frequency processor

Single-photon detection and cryogenic reconfigurability in lithium niobate nanophotonic circuits

Integrated near-infrared spectral sensing

Reprogrammable plasmonic topological insulators with ultrafast control

Planar refraction and lensing of highly confined polaritons in anisotropic media

Polarization-transparent silicon photonic add-drop multiplexer with wideband hitless tuneability

Peta-bit-per-second optical communications system using a standard cladding diameter 15-mode fiber

Spatial coherence of light inside three-dimensional media

Semiconductor core fibres: materials science in a bottle

Optical force mapping at the single-nanometre scale

Remote whispering metamaterial for non-radiative transceiving of ultra-weak sound

3D printable diffractive optical elements by liquid immersion

Scalable photonic-based nulling interferometry with the dispersed multi-baseline GLINT instrument

Arbitrary linear transformations for photons in the frequency synthetic dimension

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