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.
Direct laser writing is shown to dramatically enhance the chemical etch rate of laser crystals yttrium aluminium garnet and sapphire, allowing nanostructuring.
A device capable of inverting the polarization of light by efficient control of interlayer excitons in a van der Waals heterostructure is demonstrated, representing an important step towards implementing logic operations in valleytronics.
An interferometric homodyne method is employed to measure material-dependent intensity-induced phase shifts of extreme-ultraviolet high harmonics emerging from bulk magnesium oxide and quartz crystals, providing a robust platform for high-harmonic spectroscopy of solids.
Characterizing not only the fluorescence intensity but also the inherent quantum correlations of the fluorescent photon stream can enhance the spatial resolution of image scanning microscopy up to twofold, a fourfold improvement over the diffraction limit.
The performance of photodetectors fabricated from emerging semiconductors such as perovskites, quantum dots, two-dimensional materials or organics, for example, can be prone to misinterpretation. This Comment exposes the problems and proposes some guidelines for accurate characterization.
A microphotonic astrocomb is demonstrated via temporal dissipative Kerr solitons in photonic-chip-based silicon nitride microresonators with a precision of 25 cm s–1 (radial velocity equivalent), useful for Earth-like planet detection and cosmological research.
Focusing short CO2 laser pulses into air reveals rich ionization physics that is best explained by solid-state theories and results in centimetre-scale-diameter megafilaments that transport joules of energy.
A soliton microcomb as an astronomical spectrograph calibrator is presented. It can ultimately have a footprint of a few cubic centimetres, and reduced weight and power consumption, attractive for precision radial velocity measurement.
Coupled lithium niobate ring resonators enable control of a ‘photonic molecule’ by programmed microwave signals. An on-demand optical storage and retrieval system is demonstrated.
A terawatt picosecond CO2 laser beam is shown to form a centimetre-scale-diameter filament in air that is capable of carrying several joules of energy.
Quantum cascade laser frequency combs are coherently locked to an external radio-frequency source even in extremely high-feedback conditions. The internal phase-locking mechanism and the possibility of all-electric stabilization are investigated.
Brillouin lasing with 0.7 Hz fundamental linewidth is observed by optically exciting a monolithic bus–ring Si3N4 waveguide resonator. The Brillouin laser is applied to an optical gyroscope and a low phase-noise photonic microwave oscillator.
