A paper in Light: Science & Applications uses spatiotemporally resolved terahertz emission nanoscopy to observe ultrafast charge and spin currents in spintronic devices, offering detailed insight for next-generation technologies such as high-efficiency solar cells.
A paper in Light: Science & Applications proposes photonic thermal management for overhead transmission cables using high-thermal-conductivity radiative cooling materials, lowering cable temperatures to boost grid operating capacity.
A paper in Optica reports a wide-field coherent multidimensional spectroscopy microscope (2DESM) that uses ultrashort laser pulses to map the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of electron interactions in thin materials.
A paper in Science reports that researchers entangled a levitated glass nanosphere with an optical field in an optical trap, achieving the effect at room temperature and providing a new platform for macroscopic quantum mechanics research.
Why we recommend it: The original article reports entanglement of a macroscopic object with light at room temperature, relevant to optomechanics and quantum sensing
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego demonstrated a new method for switching magnetic information in a material using specially designed ultrafast laser beams, without an external magnetic field.
Why we recommend it: The original article demonstrates the use of structured light in all-optical magnetic storage, relevant to light-controlled magnetic recording
A paper in ACS Nano uses X-ray techniques to observe in real time the structural response of a quantum material after ultrafast laser pulses strike a crystal. Fabricating quantum devices often begins with deliberately damaging a crystal using ultrafast lasers, and this method could help clarify that process.
Researchers have demonstrated a new chip-scale optical frequency comb formation process in which two laser beams interact, enabling a range of precision measurements and showing potential for use in portable atomic clocks.
Why we recommend it: The original article explains the path from chip-based frequency combs to portable timekeeping, serving as a reference for integrated photonic precision measurement
A paper in Advanced Functional Materials examines the in-plane anisotropy of the bulk photovoltaic effect in the Pc phase of CuCrP2S6 at 100K, concluding that atomic motion could help solar cells surpass conventional efficiency limits.
Researchers have demonstrated an antenna that uses a laser-generated plasma filament to emit radio waves; the related paper is titled "Laser-Induced-Plasma-Filament" antenna research.
The Ozcan laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles developed a digital-optical hybrid system capable of identifying deepfake videos simultaneously across multiple channels.
Why we recommend it: The original article shows a new application of diffractive optical processors in AI vision tasks, a practical case of optical computing
A Nature Communications paper uses wavefront shaping to focus light through a scattering medium onto multiple target points, revealing giant fluctuations in focused intensity and using them to uncover hidden correlations in opaque materials.
Researchers use a programmable photonic chip to read out the hidden topology of a lossy system: two signal channels reproduce the lossy system, while two auxiliary channels absorb leaked energy, allowing topological properties to be measured even under energy loss.
Earlier studies in hydrogel and water droplet experiments proposed a photomolecular effect in which visible light illumination accelerates water evaporation. New rigorous experiments find this claim to be inaccurate.
Researchers irradiate a large-area suspended thin film with an intense laser to induce a propagating electrostatic wave, letting protons surf it to higher energies under long-pulse laser conditions.
Researchers at EPFL have developed a photonic integrated, infinite self-injection-locked laser that remains locked without active control and has been packaged in a fiber-coupled standard butterfly package.
Why we recommend it: The original article presents an integrated narrow-linewidth laser that can be packaged directly, relevant to simplifying laser sources in optical communications and sensing
Researchers propose a new method for generating nearly indistinguishable photons from quantum dot biexciton cascades, suitable for quantum communication.
Multiple quantum well materials developed by Seth Bank's group at the University of Texas at Austin show promise for nonlinear photonics, potentially enabling tailored large nonlinearities in nanophotonic devices.
Optica published the study on October 1. The model accounts for individual differences in color vision and explains why colors on modern displays appear different to different people, potentially helping to develop more consistent displays.
ICTER researchers show that acquiring and combining multiple measurements while altering how light scatters can reduce speckle noise and distortion in optical imaging.
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
Researchers used an interferometer to split a laser into two beams of different colors and overlapped them in a vacuum chamber to form a 3D light field, which was used to manipulate electrons and drive them into quantum states that had previously been inaccessible experimentally.
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
A research team used a laser to generate an artificial particle beam dominated by muons and captured the first shadow image of a stack of lead bricks, offering muon imaging a more controllable source than cosmic rays.
The Joint Laboratory for High Power Laser and Physics at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) has proposed a laser spot analysis system based on an improved YOLOv8-seg to meet the need for rapid, precise alignment of optics along the full chain of high-power laser facilities, and has completed experimental validation.
Why we recommend it: The original paper demonstrates a deep learning segmentation model for laser facility alignment, a case of AI entering optical assembly and adjustment
Researcher Tian Ye and Academician Li Ruxin at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), together with Researcher Pan Yiming at ShanghaiTech University and colleagues, have proposed a new mechanism that uses the quadratic phase accumulated during the propagation of free-electron quantum wave packets to simultaneously achieve selectable high-harmonic bunching and synthesis of nonclassical quantum light, linking quantum state control, high-harmonic radiation and quantum light synthesis.
Why we recommend it: The original paper proposes a unified framework for free-electron lasers and quantum light sources, relevant to novel light source research
Researchers at the Joint Laboratory for High Power Laser Physics at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics studied the internal dynamics of spatiotemporal optical vortex strings, uncovering phenomena such as spatiotemporal attraction and filamentation stretching. The results were published as "Probing Internal Dynamics of Spatiotemporal Optical Vortex Strings".
Shuo Sun and colleagues used fishbone photonic crystal cavities to combine diamond nanobeams with titanium dioxide integrated optical circuits, achieving heterogeneous integration.
Why we recommend it: The original paper presents a new structure coupling diamond color centers to integrated optical circuits, relevant to quantum photonic chips
Nature Photonics published a News & Views commentary discussing readout of electron-on-helium qubits and progress toward strong coupling between photons and single electrons on helium surfaces.
A team from the Department of High-Power Laser Component Technology and Engineering at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) used nanoimprint lithography to fabricate large-area, double-sided fused-silica nanopillar metasurfaces, achieving broadband, wide-angle antireflection from the visible to near-infrared, along with good high-temperature stability and laser damage tolerance.
Why we recommend it: The original article provides a scalable nanoimprint process and laser damage tolerance, offering practical value for high-power laser optics
A team at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) proposed and validated a lithography-free Cr/a-GST/Bi planar metal-insulator-metal absorber based on an ultrahigh-refractive-index material. With a total thickness of only 550nm, it achieves high absorption and thermal emission control across the 8-14μm long-wave infrared band.
Why we recommend it: The original article presents a lithography-free, ultra-thin long-wave infrared absorber, relevant to infrared stealth and thermal management devices
Water absorbs longer-wavelength light first, giving the ocean a blue hue below the surface. Researchers are using perovskite photovoltaics matched to the underwater spectrum to improve the performance of underwater solar power generation.
Researchers at TU Wien propose that letting photons change shape as they propagate could enable perfect quantum information transfer between quantum network nodes.
A team led by researcher Wei Chaoyang at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics has systematically revealed the microscopic mechanism behind performance degradation of ion-beam-finished fused silica under gamma-ray irradiation induced by hydration, providing a basis for stable service of fused silica components in radiation-rich environments such as space.
A team from the State Key Laboratory of Ultra-Intense Laser Science and Technology at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) achieved few-cycle nonlinear pulse compression in a dispersion-engineered folded multi-pass cell, producing high-power few-cycle ultrafast laser pulses. The results were published in Optics Letters.
Why we recommend it: The original article presents a multi-pass cell compression scheme for few-cycle pulses, relevant to high-power ultrafast lasers
A team led by researcher Wei Chaoyang at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics has published a review systematically covering the full technology chain of CO2 laser processing of fused silica optical components, from fundamental physical mechanisms to advanced functional applications.
A team led by researcher Tian Ye and academician Li Ruxin at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics has proposed a new mechanism in which intense lasers excite surface waves on microwires that interact with relativistic charged particles to efficiently modulate spin. The approach is universal for leptons and ions and applies to particles at energies of GeV and even TeV.
A team from the State Key Laboratory of Ultra-Intense Laser Science and Technology at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) achieved, for the first time, all-optical arbitrary control of chirality and ellipticity in solid-state high harmonics through dynamical symmetry engineering and quantum geometric phase manipulation.
Why we recommend it: The original article presents an all-optical means of controlling solid-state high-harmonic polarization, relevant to circularly polarized attosecond light sources
A team led by researcher Hu Lili at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, studied how compositional substitution in neodymium-doped phosphate laser glass affects structure and performance, providing a basis for Nd:glass materials used in high-repetition-rate lasers.
The Abdoulaye Ndao laboratory at the University of California San Diego has developed a new optical data storage method that can store multiple images in a compact device and dynamically hide or display them.
A paper in Light: Science & Applications investigates light-guided azo polymer hydrogel actuators, using the photoinduced deformation of azo polymers to achieve light-controlled actuation.