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Although typical microwave isolators provide 20 dB of isolation, a topological isolator—based on a one-way edge waveguide—enables 100 dB isolation due to the near-complete absorption of the backward-propagating mode. In theory, 200 dB of isolation is possible within a single-wavelength-size device.
A terahertz field exceeding 1 V nm−1 induced a structural phase transition in the top atomic layer of a bulk WTe2 crystal. Differential imaging revealed a surface shift of 7 ± 3 pm and an electronic signature consistent with a topological phase transition.
Organic permeable base transistors featuring a porous aluminium electrode within the semiconductor channel enable high photo-gain and charge storage simultaneously. The transistors achieve retention times beyond 10.000 s while operating at less than 2 V with responsivity as high as 109 A W−1.
Using low-threshold and dispersion engineering, a 2.6-octave frequency comb is generated on a LiNbO3 chip via an optical parametric oscillator with only 121 fJ. The optical parametric oscillator design eases the requirements for quality factor and relatively narrow spectral coverage of the cavity.
Two types of on-chip silicon device utilizing silicon T centres are developed: an O-band light-emitting diode and an electrically triggered single-photon source. Further, a new method of spin initialization with electrical excitation is demonstrated.
An optical sieve—an array of optically resonant voids in gallium arsenide—enables sorting, detecting and counting nanoplastics as small as a few hundreds of nanometres at concentrations as low as 150 μg ml−1 in lake water samples.
A tree-like arrangement of dichroic mirrors and multiple cameras coupled with an iterative spectral unmixing algorithm enables multispectral imaging of live cells in up to eight spectral channels with diffraction-limited spatial resolution and temporal resolution of 0.3 s for imaging a full cell volume.
Lanbow, a palette of fluorophores with tunable near-infrared absorption and single-band emission in the shortwave infrared, enables up to nine-colour imaging in deep tissue and precise image-guided surgery in mammals.
A photonic processor based on a diffractive tensorized unit enables million-TOPS general-purpose computing. The approach challenges the generality and scalability constraints of diffractive computing and enables orders-of-magnitude improvements in energy efficiency over a high-end electronic tensor core processor.
Using the well-established foundry-based lithium niobate nanophotonics platform, a general electro-optic digital-to-analogue link with ultrahigh bandwidth (>150 Gb s−1) and ultralow power consumption (0.058 pJ b−1) is demonstrated, providing a direct, energy-efficient, high-speed and scalable solution for interfacing digital electronics and photonics.
Coating additive solutions onto wet perovskite films in situ enables flexible all-perovskite tandem solar cells with a certified power conversion efficiency of 23.0% for a module with an aperture area of 20.26 cm2. The modules maintain 97% of their initial efficiency after 10,000 bending cycles with a 10 mm radius.
A dual-gated moiré superlattice device made of trilayer WSe2/WS2/WSe2 enables controlling quadrupolar excitons by driving quadrupolar-to-dipolar exciton transitions via tuning the excitation intensity and doping.
Triangle-beam interference structured illumination microscopy leverages radially polarized beams to generate two-dimensional lattice illumination patterns. The technique enables a temporal resolution of 242 Hz, spatial resolution of 100 nm and continuous imaging of neuronal growth for up to 13 h.
Researchers generated 16.7 nm wavelength extreme-ultraviolet Poincaré beams at the FERMI free electron laser without relying on optical elements. The method of in situ Poincaré beam production in free electron lasers enables straightforward flexibility in the orientation and balance of polarization states, and can be extended to other vector beams and to shorter wavelengths.
A fluidic system with spatially reconfigurable hot spots generated by optical pumping of plasmonic nanorods is demonstrated, creating virtual barriers by generating local heating via photothermal conversion, for potential applications in chemical synthesis, lab-on-chip devices and microbiology.
A wide-field microscope capable of simultaneously measuring circular dichroism and circular birefringence signals over wide fields of view of the order of hundreds of micrometres is demonstrated, addressing the challenge of spatially resolving chiral heterogeneity in materials and biomolecules.
An ultra-thin mixed-reality (MR) display design that is based on a unique combination of waveguide holography and artificial intelligence-driven holography algorithms is demonstrated, creating visually comfortable and perceptually realistic 3D VR experiences in a compact wearable device.
A new p-type small molecule enhances defect passivation and improves interfacial charge transport in perovskite solar cells, enabling devices with a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.72%, 97% of which is maintained after 2,500 h of continuous operation.
