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Plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials can augment the performance of photovoltaic and thermophotovoltaic cells by enhancing their absorption properties. Aydinet al. demonstrate a broadband, ultrathin plasmonic super absorber using crossed trapezoids as part of a metal–insulator–metal stack.

Simultaneous measurements of the optical force and power exerted by a collimated laser beam on a 50-nm-thick silicon nitride lightsail membrane suspended by compliant micromechanical springs quantify the radiation pressure, enabling further multiphysics studies of radiation pressure forces on macroscopic objects.

Nonreciprocal thermal absorptivity and emissivity is shown over a broadband spectrum and specified angular range for a gradient epsilon-near-zero photonic structure.

So far, the realization of negative-refractive-index materials has required the use of resonating metallic structures, leading to an inherently narrowband operation around those resonances. Here, negative-refractive-index materials are proposed that consist of single coaxial waveguide layers, with a negative refractive index at a broad range of visible wavelengths.

Spatiotemporal modulation of an electrically driven metasurface generates harmonic frequencies in space at optical frequency.

The use of silicon nanostructures in solar cells offers a number of benefits, such as the fact they can be used on flexible substrates. A silicon wire-array structure, containing reflecting nanoparticles for enhanced absorption, is now shown to achieve 96% peak absorption efficiency, capturing 85% of light with only 1% of the silicon used in comparable commercial cells.

Ultrathin laser-driven lightsails represent a unique vision for interstellar space exploration. Here, the authors show how spinning flexible membranes can be both shape- and trajectory-stable with multiphysics structural and nanophotonic engineering.

Researchers demonstrate unequivocal quantum interference between plasmons in a Hong–Ou–Mandel experiment. The results may be important for quantum information applications of plasmonics.

Wavefront manipulation with metasurfaces is typically limited to low quality factors. Here, the authors show how higher-order Mie modes can be leveraged to design high quality factor optical metasurfaces for wavefront manipulation in two dimensions.

An inequality is shown to exist between the spectral directional emissivity and absorptivity in a structure supporting a guided-mode resonance coupled to a magneto-optic material. This finding provides the direct observation of the violation of Kirchhoff’s law of thermal radiation.

Bosonic qubits can be engineered to feature intrinsic protection against certain kinds of errors, which makes quantum error correction across many bosonic qubits possible with less overhead.

Theoretical limiting efficiencies play a critical role in determining technological viability and expectations for device prototypes. Here, the authors present a unified framework for photoelectrochemical device performance through which previous limiting efficiencies can be understood and contextualized.

Graphene’s exotic properties make it suitable for many different optoelectronic devices. Brar et al. show that graphene plasmonic resonators can be exploited to produce narrow spectral emission in the mid-infrared, whose frequency and intensity can be modulated by electrostatic gating.

Graphene-plasmon optical modulators with broadly tunable operating frequencies are sought for photonic applications. Here, Kim et al.demonstrate tunable mid-infrared transmission that utilizes resonant absorption in graphene ribbons to modulate the extraordinary optical transmission effect in metallic slit arrays.

A full theoretical understanding of plasmon decay into hot carriers will help in applications such as solar cells or photocatalysis. Here, the authors present a quantized plasmon model to calculate the hot-carrier distribution from plasmon decay and show its sensitivity to the band structure of the host metal.

By combining a CMOS-based integrated circuit with flexible and collapsible radiating structures, a scalable phased array architecture can be fabricated that has an areal mass density of only 0.1 g cm⁻².

Isolating CO₂ to use in electrochemical CO₂ reduction systems is an ongoing issue. Here, the authors present a proof-of-concept integrated system combining a bipolar membrane electrodialysis cell with a vapor-fed CO₂ reduction cell for capture and conversion of CO₂ from oceanwater.

Solar steam water purification and fog collection are two independent processes that could enable abundant fresh water generation. Here, the authors develop a hydrogel membrane that contains microstructures and combines both functions and serves as an all-day fresh water harvester.

The optical emission of graphene under pumping with femtosecond laser pulses contains a strong component linked to plasmon emission from the hot electrons in the system.

Here, the authors demonstrate an electrically tunable metasurface with III–V semiconducting MQW structures as resonant metasurface elements. The amplitude and phase of the light reflected from the metasurface can be continuously tuned by applying DC electric field across the MQW metasurface elements.

Understanding the role of plasmon excitation is crucial for the realization of hot carrier devices. Here, the authors report internal quantum efficiency measurements in photoexcited gold gallium nitride Schottky diodes and elucidate the roles of surface plasmon excitation, hot carrier transport, and carrier injection in device performance.

The dynamic control of light emission from quantum dots is generally controlled via optical or electrical pumping. Here, Lu et al. electrically control the local density of states around a quantum dot to modulate its visible light emission properties.

For decades, solar-cell efficiencies have remained below the thermodynamic limits. However, new approaches to light management that systematically minimize thermodynamic losses will enable ultrahigh efficiencies previously considered impossible.

Mechanical stability of macroscopic structures on the millimetre-, centimetre- and even metre-scale could be realized by tailoring the anisotropy of light scattering along the object’s surface, without needing to focus incident light or excessively constrain the shape, size or material composition of the object.

While cuprous oxide is a promising solar-to-fuel conversion material, photoelectrochemical devices substantially underperform. Here, the authors use femtosecond time-resolved two-photon photoemission spectroscopy to correlate photoexcited electron energetics and dynamics with performance losses.

Subwavelength nanostructures generate a localized thermoelectric voltage for non-bandgap-limited photodetection.

Photo-excited gold nanoparticles are shown to provide ultrafast and efficient hot-hole injection to the valence band of p-type GaN, substantially altering hot-electron dynamics in the nanoparticles and forming a basis to design hot-hole-based optoelectronics.

Most natural materials do not have a magnetic response at optical frequencies and inducing optical magnetism by metamaterials typically requires complex nanostructures. Here, Papadakis et al. show that artificial optical magnetism can also be achieved with planar multilayer metamaterials.

The mitigation of climate change requires major transformations in the ways we generate energy and operate technologies that release carbon dioxide. Photonic concepts and novel light-driven technologies provide many potential solutions, transforming our current modes of energy use into more effective and sustainable ones.

Metasurface optics offer a very favourable size, weight, power and cost metric compared to bulky optical elements based on polished pieces of glass or moulded plastics, and these valuable traits are now propelling their use in many areas of technology.

The practical implementation of CO₂ electrocatalysis is premised on the availability of captured CO₂—a consideration that is often overlooked. This Perspective presents several concepts for integrating CO₂ capture with electrochemical CO₂ conversion for the enhancement of overall efficiency.

This Perspective explores the optical, mechanical and thermal properties required to successfully design an ultralight spacecraft that can reach Proxima Centauri b, which is the goal of the Starshot Breakthrough Initiative.

Subwavelength-grating metamaterial structures, their main operation principles and their implementation in integrated photonic devices are reviewed.

This review article surveys the potential of using plasmonic nanostructures to enhance the absorption of photovoltaic devices. As a result, the physical thickness of solar cells can be reduced, leading to new photovoltaic-device designs.