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Here, the authors report a high-performance broadband spectrometer based on a van der Waals heterostructure tunnel diode containing MoS₂ and and black phosphorus, leveraging their electrically tunable photoresponse and advanced computational algorithms for spectral reconstruction.

Multi-pulse oscillations are prevalent phenomena in mode-locked lasers and microresonators. Here, the authors achieve the on-demand tailoring of multiple solitons via spectral phase programming, resulting in soliton patterns with separations following constant, geometric, and arithmetic sequences.

One-dimensional materials such as carbon nanotubes have many applications, but not all of their properties can be described in the same way as for conventional media. Here, the authors devise a method to measure the complex optical susceptibility in a 1D nanomaterial and demonstrate it for carbon nanotubes.

Interlayer twist angle between vertically stacked 2D material layers can trigger exciting fundamental physics. Here, the authors report precise control of interlayer twist angle of stacked centimeter scale multilayer MoS₂ homostructures that enables continuous change in their indirect bandgap, Moiré phonons and electrical properties.

Realizing efficient on-chip amplification in silicon is challenging due to either non-compatible integration or small gain per unit length of the amplifier material. Here, the authors report ultra-high on-chip optical gain in erbium-based hybrid silicon nitride slot waveguides with a monolithic, CMOS-compatible and scalable atomic-layer deposition process.

The coherence degradation of pulses synchronized to optical cavities is an issue for ultrahigh-repetition-rate lasing. Here the authors demonstrate synchronized multi-wavelength mode-locked soliton fiber lasers generating ultrafast outputs from two to five wavelengths with a high sub-pulse repetition rate.

The internal surface of an optical fibre can be covered by uniform two-dimensional-material layers for highly nonlinear and low-loss light propagation.

A high-dimensional photodetection system that combines a lens and a thin-film interface enables simultaneous measurements of light spectrum and polarization states, with the aid of a deep neural network.

Superblack materials could innovate light-centered technologies, however, advances in superblack materials have been constrained by their complex and costly fabrication routes. Here, the authors report a simple top-down strategy, guided by computational methods, to develop robust superblack materials following metal-free wood delignification and carbonization.

Despite being a powerful tool for molecular vibrational mode detection, infrared spectrosocpy is limited by weak sensitivity. Here, the authors demonstrate a platform for enhanced molecular fingerprint sensing based on a graphene/CaF₂nanofilm plasmonic structure.

Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides can be grown on large scale using chemical vapour deposition which, however, determines presence of grain boundaries. Here, the authors report that third-harmonic generation imaging provides excellent sensitivity and fast speed for grain boundary visualization in MoS₂.

Graphene’s photothermoelectric effect and on-chip compatibility enable ultrafast, low-power chip-integrated photodetectors. We demonstrate a nonvolatile graphene p-i-n homojunction on a silicon photonic crystal waveguide, achieving efficient, bias- and gate-free photodetection with high responsivity, which is promising for advanced optoelectronics and neuromorphic computing.

The article introduces a new method for nanoscale octave-spanning coherent light generation via phase-matching-free down-conversion, offering high-efficiency and applications in metrology, spectroscopy, and telecommunications.

One-dimensional van der Waals (1D vdW) materials derive interesting behaviour from dimensional confinement. Here the authors study a 1D vdW semiconductor, fibrous red phosphorous, and observe exceptional optical properties of large optical anisotropy and high photoluminescence.

Identification of gas molecules is crucial in healthcare and security applications. Here the authors achieve label-free identification of SO₂, NO₂, N₂O, and NO gas molecules by detecting their rotational-vibrational modes using graphene nanoribbon plasmons.

The anomalous photovoltaic effect in polar materials offers a promising alternative to overcome the limits of conventional photovoltaics. Here, the authors report spontaneous photocurrent generation in Janus MoSSe monolayers, showing responsivities up to 3 mA/W and response times down to 50 ps.

The authors study the light-driven dynamics of attractive and repulsive Fermi polarons in monolayer WSe₂. They show that the resonance shifts of Fermi polarons are valley-selective; the resonance shifts of attractive polarons increase with Fermi-sea density, while those of repulsive polarons decrease.

The authors observe that the atomic reconstruction in MoS₂/WSe₂ heterobilayers with large lattice mismatch results in the most significant periodic strain distribution, contributing to the effective localisation of excitons within moiré potential traps at room temperature.

Harmonic generation is a nonlinear optical process occurring in a variety of materials; the higher orders generation is generally less efficient than lower orders. Here, the authors report that the third-harmonic is thirty times stronger than the second-harmonic in monolayer MoS2.

The demonstration of broadband, electrically tunable third-order nonlinear optical responses in graphene is promising for a host of nonlinear optical applications.

A hybrid material based on uniform graphene on both the outer surface and inner hole walls of a photonic crystal fibre offers a strong, tunable light–matter interaction and good broadband electro-optic modulation performance under low gate voltage.

The authors report experimental evidence of phonon Stark effect in 2H-MoS₂ bilayers. A Stark phonon appears as the interlayer excitons are tuned to resonate with the LA phonon emission line, and shows a linear energy shift upon application of an out-of-plane electric field.

Multiwalled boron nitride nanotubes, featuring coherently stacked structures with monochirality, homo-handedness and unipolarity among the component tubes, show a large nonlinear chiroptical response.

Graphene plasmons hold potential for infrared optoelectronic devices, but the interaction with the substrate often degrades their quality. Here, the authors report the characterization of plasmons in suspended graphene with tunable suspension height, showing enhanced quality factors and propagation lengths at room temperature.

Polaritonic topological transitions of the isofrequency dispersion contour are observed in a graphene/α-MoO₃ heterostructure by tuning the graphene doping level, which enables partial focusing at deep subwavelength.

Ultra-fast optical time-domain transformation (UO-TDT) techniques are used to encode spatial and spectral information from ultra-short pulses into the time domain. In this Primer, Zhang et al. cover the physical and mathematical basis of UO-TDT and its application in various imaging platforms, and conclude with an outlook on how these techniques could be applied to novel applications and imaging modalities.

Monolayer MoS₂ can be laterally grown in the vapour–liquid–solid mode, forming highly crystalline nano- and microribbon structures.

An integrated high-energy laser that combines a passively Q-switched laser cavity based on a silicon-nitride photonic integrated circuit with an optically pumped gain layer consisting of thulium-doped alumina is reported, representing a pivotal advancement in integrated pulsed lasers.

The authors investigate the optical response of marginally twisted MoSe₂/WSe₂ heterobilayers and identify two types of trapped excitons depending on laser excitation power and temperature: excitons trapped in shallow defects and excitons trapped in the moire potential. At strong excitation powers, interlayer biexcitons are identified.

Nanotubes and graphene have emerged as promising materials for use in ultrafast fibre lasers. Their unique electrical and optical properties enable them to be used as saturable absorbers that have fast responses and broadband operation and that can be easily integrated in fibre lasers.

Wavelength-tunable ultraviolet light sources are required for a wide range of applications, but are typically difficult to manufacture and operate. A simple gas-filled optical fibre that performs efficient frequency conversion from the infrared to the deep-ultraviolet could be a promising answer.

This Review introduces emerging nonlinear electronic, optical and optoelectronic properties of moiré superlattices and discusses opportunities and challenges in this rapidly progressing field, as well as implications for fundamental physics and technological innovations.

Here, the authors demonstrate an analogue reversed Cherenkov radiation at mid-infrared frequencies in MoO₃, a natural hyperbolic material, and show that the radiation angle and the quality factor can be increased by stacking hBN layers on the MoO₃ surface.

Coherent all-optical modulation of nonlinear optics with chiral light in symmetrical crystals is achieved with ultra-fast speed (~ fs), unlimited bandwidth, perfect modulation depth (~100%), and compact footprint (atomic thickness).

Photodetectors that offer broadband imaging from ultraviolet to mid-infrared can be created by using a silicon depletion well for charge integration, single-layer graphene for non-destructive direct readout and multilayer graphene for infrared photocharge injection.

Strong-field photoemission is the emission of electrons driven by a strong electric field of light. Here the authors demonstrate a highly non-linear strong-field photoemission, approaching the 40th power-law scaling, from carbon nanotubes, yielding a photoemission current with up to 100% carrier-envelope phase modulation depth.

The optical response of van der Waals layered crystals is strongly anisotropic. Here, the authors develop a nano-imaging technique to determine the in-plane and out-of-plane components of the anisotropic dielectric tensors in MoS₂ and hBN, two representative van der Waals crystals.

Atomically thin black phosphorus shows promise for optoelectronics and photonics, yet its instability under environmental conditions and the lack of well-established large-area synthesis protocols hinder its applications. Here, the authors demonstrate a stable black phosphorus ink suitable for printed ultrafast lasers and photodetectors.

Symmetry breaking plays a significant role in the determination of the fascinating physical phenomena and quantum phase transitions in 2D materials. This Review discusses the state-of-the-art physical and chemical approaches to engineer the symmetry breaking of 2D materials and their heterostructures.

Optical spectroscopy can identify chiral indices of individual carbon nanotubes, but has so far been unable to determine their handedness because of the weak chiroptical signal. Rayleigh scattering circular dichroism now enables the identification of both chiral indices and handedness of individual nanotubes.