Researchers have observed strong coupling between light waves and traveling acoustic waves in optical fiber for the first time, opening a new platform for optoacoustic signal processing.
A paper in Light: Science & Applications used multilevel time encoding to transmit a cluster state over 29.5 km of partially deployed fiber.
Why we recommend it: The original paper transmitted a high-dimensional cluster state over actually deployed fiber, offering useful lessons for quantum network engineering
A team at DTU Electro in Denmark has made progress on ultralow-noise supercontinuum lasers, using heat treatment of the fiber to nearly double the spectral range compared with similar low-noise sources.
Why we recommend it: The original paper presents a simple fiber post-processing method that is useful for supercontinuum light source design
Researchers at ETH Zurich are using fiber-optic sensing to detect crevasses in the Gorner Glacier in the Alps.
SIOM has proposed a configurational entropy engineering strategy that enables ultra-broadband luminescence in bismuth-doped glass fiber.
Why we recommend it: The source provides specific data and details that help assess actual progress in this direction
Space-grade radiation-hardened erbium-doped fiber developed by teams led by Hou Chaoqi and Guo Haitao at the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics has completed stable on-orbit verification for spaceborne laser communication.
Why we recommend it: The original article provides specific data and details that help assess the actual progress in this direction.
Guo Haitao's team at the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Mechanics has mastered key full-chain technologies for mid- and long-wave infrared anti-resonant hollow-core fiber.
Why we recommend it: The original text provides specific data and details that help assess actual progress in this direction.
The National Natural Science Foundation of China international cooperation innovation team project, led by the Russell Center for Advanced Lightwave Science at the Hangzhou Institute of Optics and Mechanics, was launched at the institute on February 8. The project is headed by Professor Philip Russell, with Professor Wang Pengfei's team at Northeast Normal University as the collaborating institution, and runs from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2028. Focusing on hollow-core fiber, the project addresses challenges such as balancing low loss with high mode purity, controlling broadband ultraviolet pulses, and insufficient mid-infrared pulse performance, through research on optical fiber microstructure design and ultraviolet-to-mid-infrared ultrafast laser technology.
The Russell Center at the Hangzhou Institute of Optics and Mechanics, together with the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, published a paper in High Power Laser Science and Engineering, demonstrating high-quality transmission and precision machining of high-power picosecond lasers using a single-ring anti-resonant hollow-core fiber.
The Russell Advanced Lightwave Science Center at the Hangzhou Institute of Optics and Mechanics, together with the Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study of UCAS, the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Mechanics, and IRFIBER (Ningbo) Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., published a paper in Optica on delivering near-watt, hundred-femtosecond mid-infrared pulses in the 2.8 µm band through a 5 m-long hollow-core photonic crystal fiber with a single-core, eight-ring structure. After evacuation, overall efficiency exceeded 70%, the output was a near-diffraction-limited Gaussian spot, and the fundamental-mode energy fraction exceeded 95%.
Why we recommend it: The paper gives efficiency, pulse duration, peak power and fundamental-mode fraction, and compares the fiber with free-space optics and solid-core fluoride fiber, making it easier to judge the applicability of hollow-core fiber to mid-infrared ultrafast delivery.