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Nonlinear activation function (NAF) devices are important for the implementation of optical neural networks. Here, the authors report the integration of 2D MoTe₂ with optical waveguides to fabricate broadband all-optical NAF devices exhibiting activation thresholds down to 0.94 μW, a device size of ~50 μm^2, and response rates up to 2.08 THz.

Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study reveal declines in chronic respiratory disease mortality between 1990 and 2023—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—but the burdens on people affected remain substantial.

Global Burden of Disease estimates show that between 1990 and 2023, the prevalence and burden of drug use disorders, inclusive of amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and opioid use, have been increasing in high-income countries, particularly in the USA.

A few-mode, multicore fibre allows ultra-high-speed data transmission on a single wavelength of light.

Photonic processors are limited by the bulkiness of discrete components and wiring complexity. An experiment now demonstrates a reprogrammable two-dimensional waveguide that performs neural network inference through multimode wave propagation.

A turnkey regime for soliton microcombs is demonstrated, in which solitons are generated by switching on a co-integrated pump laser, eliminating the need for photonic and electronic control circuitry.

Self-injection locking of the pump laser for a soliton microcomb has significantly relaxed the requirements for laser drives. Here the authors study self-injection locking in experiment and theory and reveal that the soliton formation is feasible with detunings unreachable according to previous theories.

Efficient electro-optic conversion is central to photonic computing, and thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) offers this capability. Here, the authors demonstrate computing circuits on the TFLN platform, enabling the next generation of photonic computing systems featuring both high-speed and low-power.

Nucleosides, nucleotides and nucleic acids with N6 modified adenosine are important for the areas of disease diagnosis and treatment, biological chemistry, and nanotechnology, but challenging to synthesize. Here, the authors develop a practical alkylation at the N6-position of adenines in adenosine and its analogues, as well as late-stage functionalization of nucleotides/oligonucleotides through photoredox and copper co-catalyzed decarboxylative C(sp³)-N cross-coupling reaction.

New fully integrated semiconductor laser architectures are shown to be able to generate bright and background-free picosecond solitons at GHz repetition rates in the mid-infrared range.

Research in the tropics is unevenly distributed across regions and biomes. Here, the authors find that moist broadleaf forests account for 73% of all tropical citations but cover 29% of the land area, while drier, climate-vulnerable areas with fewer trees remain under-sampled and under-cited.

Phase-stabilized frequency combs are critical for optical precision measurements. They have now been realized in a chip-scale format with CMOS compatible electrical control

Adaptive wireless communication over an unprecedented frequency range spanning over 100 GHz can be achieved by a thin-film lithium niobate photonic wireless system, which can process a large flux of information at high speed.

Chronic care manages long-term, progressive conditions, while acute care handles short-term ones. Here, authors show chronic conditions account for most of the global health burden, with 68% of DALYs and 93% of YLDs attributed to chronic care needs.

The intrinsic Kerr nonlinearity in ring resonators is exploited to demonstrate passive isolation of a continuous-wave laser. Up to 35-dB isolation with 5-dB insertion loss was achieved on-chip.

 Fully integrated photonics at submicrometre wavelengths is realized by a heterogeneous integration technology.

Estimating both current and future environmental impacts of global mariculture production on marine biodiversity, the authors show that, with strategic planning, it is possible to increase finfish and bivalve production to meet global demand while also achieving decreases in cumulative impacts to marine biodiversity by up to 30.5% in 2050.

Chip-based frequency combs promise many applications, but full integration requires the electrical pump source and the microresonator to be on the same chip. Here, the authors show such integration of a microcomb with < 100 GHz mode spacing without additional filtering cavities or on-chip heaters.

Countering the optical network ‘capacity crunch’ requires developments in optical fibres. Here, the authors report a hollow-core fibre with conjoined tubes in the cladding and a negative-curvature core shape. It exhibits a transmission loss of 2 dB/km at 1512 nm and less than 16 dB/km bandwidth in the 1302–1637 nm range.

Combining different integration platforms on the same chip is currently one of the main challenges for quantum technologies. Here, Elshaari et al. show III-V Quantum Dots embedded in nanowires operating in a CMOS compatible circuit, with controlled on-chip filtering and tunable routing.

The authors assess the impacts of tropical deforestation and its subsequent local warming on human heat-related mortality. They estimate that deforestation-related warming (+0.27 °C) is associated with approximately 28,000 heat-related deaths per year.

Stable and tunable integrated lasers are fundamental building blocks for applications from spectroscopy to imaging and communication. Here the authors present a narrow linewidth hybrid photonic integrated laser with low frequency noise and fast linear wavelength tuning. They then provide an efficient FMCW LIDAR demonstration.

Researcher reports data transmission in 37 × 40 Gbit s⁻¹ channels at 99.7% of the speed of light in vacuum in a fundamentally improved hollow-core photonic bandgap fibre with a record low loss of 3.5 dB km⁻¹ and a wide bandwidth of 160 nm.

Adhesives with both robust adhesion and tunable degradability are clinically and ecologically vital, but their fabrication remains a formidable challenge. Here, the authors report in situ radical ring-opening polymerization-based design and potential biomedical applications of a backbone degradable robust adhesive.

Weld integrity and performance determine lifetime and safety of structures. Here, the authors report advances in weld quality of ultrahigh strength steels resulting from fine interlocking weld microstructures with film-like retained austenite by utilizing Nb and Cr instead of Ni.

Achieving high output power and low noise integrated lasers is a major challenge. Here the authors experimentally demonstrate integrated lasers from a Si/SiN heterogeneous platform that shows Hertz-level linewidth, paving the way toward fully integrating low-noise silicon nitride photonics in volume using real devices for lasing.

Artist view of a GaSb diode laser grown on a Si-photonics integrated circuit, with the emitted light coupled into passive SiN waveguides.

This study assesses the probability that deaths following a COVID-19 vaccination are attributable to the vaccine. The authors review all deaths that occurred within 30 days of vaccine receipt in Qatar until June 2022 and find that deaths attributable to vaccination are extremely rare.

Photonic crystal microring resonators with a periodic corrugation inscribed along the resonator’s circumference allow programmable synthetic reflection for self-injection-locked microcombs and their operation exclusively in the single-soliton regime.