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Optical computing has been limited to vector–matrix multiplications, with matrix–matrix operations requiring wavelength- or time-division multiplexing, reducing energy efficiency and speed. Now, researchers have demonstrated a free-space optical approach that overcomes these limitations, enabling parallel matrix–matrix and tensor–matrix multiplications in a single optical operation.
Modulating an electron beam with a frequency-beating laser enables a free-electron laser to generate high-power, narrowband terahertz pulses that can be continuously tuned from 7.8 to 30.8 terahertz.
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%.
Vitrification of polymer solutions yields ultrasmall fluorescent polymer dots that combine dye-like size with nanoparticle brightness, enabling nanometre-precision live-cell tracking on standard microscopes.
Structured light and photothermal conversion are used to create reconfigurable thermal barriers in a microfluidic device. These virtual barriers can be used to dynamically control fluid flow and microparticle trajectories.
Simultaneous high-bandwidth and high-optoelectronic conversion efficiency in photodiodes is difficult to achieve. Now, researchers have demonstrated waveguide-integrated photodiodes with over 200 GHz bandwidth, 0.81 A/W responsivity and a bandwidth–efficiency product of 133.5 GHz, thus enabling amplifier-free 120 Gbps wireless transmission over 54 m.
Shining intense laser pulses on an electron beam in an electron microscope corrects electron-optical spherical aberration, paving the way to using light to improve electron microscopy imaging.
A hollow-core optical fibre which surpasses silica fibre’s long-standing limits and provides an attenuation below 0.1 dB/km across a record-wide bandwidth, could yield more energy-efficient communications with lower latency and higher data capacity.
A central goal of topological photonics has been to develop compact isolators using protected, non-reciprocal edge states. A recent demonstration of a ferrite-based microwave isolator leverages the magnon-induced topological photonic bandgap to achieve over 100 dB of isolation in a device smaller than a single free-space wavelength.
A new imaging platform combines a high-speed, multichannel camera system with an iterative spectral unmixing algorithm, enabling high-resolution imaging of up to seven distinct fluorophores, even under challenging live-cell conditions.
Electrically induced single-photon emission and spin initialization of a silicon T centre in photonic structures is a promising step towards integrated spin–photon interfaces for quantum networks.
Thermodynamic-like phenomena in optics are a nascent yet elusive route to control light flow. By emulating Joule–Thomson expansion in synthetic photonic lattices, it is now possible to funnel light universally into a single output, regardless of the input.
The quantum nature of light has been harnessed in a photonic chip to perform machine-learning tasks. For specifically designed problems, the approach outperforms established classical methods.
The integration of a quantum emitter-embedded metasurface (QEMS) with a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-actuated cavity enables ångstrom-level wavelength tuning and dynamic polarization-resolved emission. The platform provides a design paradigm for reconfigurable solid-state photon sources.
