News & Comment

Super-resolution microscopy offers valuable tools to tackle biological questions. Nature Photonics spoke with Markus Sauer, from the University of Würzburg, about the advantages and outstanding challenges of super-resolution microscopy for biological applications.

The performance of super-resolution microscopy is continuously improving. Nature Photonics interviewed Stefan Hell, from the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, about key milestones in the field, current capabilities of MINFLUX and what remains to be excited about.

Sir Peter Knight, described as "one of the UK’s most influential scientists and leaders of scientific policy" by his peers, tells Nature Photonics about the many hats he is wearing now in pushing quantum research and technologies in the UK and beyond.

Daniel Mittleman spoke with Nature Photonics about promising applications using terahertz waves, including spectroscopy, imaging, wireless communications, and quality control in industry.

Nature Photonics spoke with Hatice Altug, from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Thomas Krauss, from the University of York, and Malini Olivo from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) about optical biosensors and their prospects and challenges for clinical translation.

Nathalie Picqué, the new director at the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI) in Berlin, Germany, tells us all we need to know about frequency combs and dual-comb spectroscopy, and shares with us some golden tips on becoming a successful scientist.

Following first lasing at LCLS-II — a coherent X-ray laser source driven by a 700-m superconducting linear accelerator — several upgrades are already in the works. Nature Photonics spoke to LCLS director Mike Dunne about LCLS-II commissioning hurdles as well as future plans.

A ring laser gyroscope, located at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell in Southern Germany, measures variations in the Earth’s rotation. Nature Photonics spoke to a key researcher on the project, Ulrich Schreiber, about the system’s birth, teething issues, and how it may one day probe the El Niño effect.

Nature Photonics spoke with Rüdiger Paschotta, the founder of RP Photonics, about his online encyclopedia of photonics, the motivation behind it and future plans for the project.

Photonic processors are promising candidates for solving tough mathematical problems. Nature Photonics asked Yoshihisa Yamamoto, director of the Physics and Informatics Laboratories at NTT Research in USA, about the progress that is being made in realizing coherent Ising machines (CIMs).

Allen Weeks, Director General of the Extreme Light Infrastructure European Research Infrastructure Consortium, talks to Nature Photonics about the founding and future of the high-power-laser facilities, and stimulating a resurgence of physics in new EU member countries.

Light sheet microscopy offers rapid 3D imaging of biological specimens while limiting photodamage. Nature Photonics spoke with Elizabeth Hillman of Columbia University about its capabilities, promising applications and present limitations.

Optics is now going beneath the waves to give remote-operated vehicles and divers fast optical wireless data links. Nature Photonics spoke with Boon Ooi from KAUST, a leading researcher into underwater photonics research.

Benjamin Palmer from Ben-Gurion University in Israel talks to Nature Photonics about the intriguing optical properties found in molecular crystals in the living world. His latest paper on the topic can be found in this issue.

Nature Photonics spoke to Hongjie Dai from Stanford University about bioimaging in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) spectral window and its clinical potential.

Nature Photonics talks to Mark Hahnel, the founder and CEO of Figshare, a popular data repository, about the benefits and trends in making data open and shareable.

Mordechai (Moti) Segev spoke with Nature Photonics about the fascinating topic of photonic time crystals — materials with a refractive index that is periodically modulated in time on ultrafast timescales — and their inspiring future ahead.

Metalenz, a spin-out company from Harvard University founded in 2016, has launched its first metasurface-based product. Nature Photonics spoke with co-founder Federico Capasso about the company and its plans for flat optics.

George Palikaras, President and CEO of Meta Materials Inc., discusses the challenges of commercializing metamaterials, learned on the path from a small start-up to a Nasdaq-listed company.

Geoffroy Lerosey, co-founder and CEO/CSO of Greenerwave, shares how tunable metasurfaces may shake up industries from automotive to wireless communications.