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Lasers, LEDs and light sources are devices that create light. LEDs (light emitting diodes) convert an electrical current into light using spontaneous emission in optically active semiconductors. Lasers add a mechanism for optical feedback, such as mirrors, that stimulates further emission and generates a high-intensity beam of radiation.
Laser wakefield accelerators can produce extremely short X-ray pulses from electrons driven by intense lasers in plasma. Using simulations and batch Bayesian optimization, the authors show that adding a plasma density spike can boost attosecond betatron radiation by more than an order of magnitude.
Cavity-adaptive crystals have useful phototunable properties, but can be challenging to prepare. Here, the authors report the development of such cocrystals by use of a non-macrocyclic host, with elasticity and lasing action.
Air lasing offers a direct route to ultraviolet structured light in air using cylindrical-vector beam pumping. The authors generate both radially and azimuthally polarized N2+ lasing, yet azimuthal pumping yields no second-harmonic signal, favoring an amplified spontaneous emission mechanism over second-harmonic self-seeding.
Nanomaterials with chiral photoluminescence are promising candidates for advanced optical technologies. Here, the authors use mechsanochemical processing to tune the emission of circularly polarized light and enhance the nonlinear optical response in indium-based halides.
A strategy using simple one-step spin-coating to form 3D/2D vertically oriented perovskite heterojunctions is described, allowing the fabrication of perovskite light-emitting diodes with record-high green emission efficiencies of 42.9% (certified 42.3%).
A continuous-wave narrow-linewidth vacuum ultraviolet laser generated using four-wave mixing in cadmium vapour is shown to improve linewidth by five orders of magnitude compared with previous single-frequency lasers below 190 nm.
A nanostencil lithography technique enables fabricating arrays of green-emitting OLEDs with pixels as small as 100 nm and an external quantum efficiency of 13.1%.
Picosecond quantum transients have been traced to nanotwinning superlattices in bulk FAPbI3 films, using a combination of ultrafast spectroscopy and microscopy.
A designed electron transport layer paired with an embrittled aluminium cathode sustains efficient electron injection under strain, resulting in largely enhanced light-emitting performance.
