Name + DOI Description

Terahertz waveform synthesis in integrated thin-film lithium niobate platform

10.1038/s41467-022-35517-6

The wavelength of THz radiation is nearly a millimeter. This makes it intuitively puzzling that you can generate and guide it in sub-micron waveguides of LiNbO­3. This paper shows how one generates tailored THz radiation by inserting outcoupling antenna into the path of such a waveguide.

Superfluorescence from lead halide perovskite quantum dot superlattices

10.1038/s41586-018-0683-0

Superfluorescence is a fascinating phenomenon in which multiple dipoles “come together” to emit light like one large collective dipole. This work claims that a lattice of Perovskite nanocrystals demonstrates such an emission. The surprise is that it happens despite the significant inhomogeneity in transition energy within the nanocrystal ensemble.

Exciton-coupled coherent magnons in a 2D semiconductor

10.1038/s41586-022-05024-1

In recently discovered 2D materials, coherent magnons and bound excitons can coexist. This work looks at the relatively strong interaction between the two manifested as oscillations in the excitonic transition lines. Could this enable local sensing of magnons fields?

Ultrafast stimulated emission microscopy of single nanocrystals

10.1126/science.aay1821

While stimulated emission from molecules at room temperature is a routine tool in super-resolution microscopy, for nanocrystals it was not achieved until this demonstration. Can this bring up new opportunities to “follow” electron at femtosecond time scales at room temperature?

Polarization entanglement-enabled quantum holography

10.1038/s41567-020-01156-1

In holography, one records the spatial phase of the electric field. But what happens for a quantum state of light where phase becomes a more complex term? In this work, the authors show that even when the optical phase is completely disordered, they can image the phase relation of entangled photon pairs and retrieve images from it.

Spatiotemporally controlled room-temperature exciton transport under dynamic strain

10.1038/s41566-021-00951-3

Can you “push” excitons with mechanical waves? In this work accoustic surface waves apply force on photo-excited excitons driving their directional transport. They even mange to show how the phase of the acoustic wave makes a significant difference on the driving force.

High-efficiency single-photon generation via large-scale active time multiplexing

10.1126/sciadv.aaw8586

A single photon state is one of these common physical objects that are so easy to write on paper but so difficult to create in the lab. This work makes another important step towards realizing a deterministic source of single photons. It does so by generating entangled photon pairs with a train of pulses and using one of the photons as a herald of the other. By adjusting a time-dependent switch, one can select a single photon from the train and output it at a precise time window.

Nonlinear phononics as an ultrafast route to lattice control

10.1038/nphys2055

Typically, we excite specific phonon modes by linear or Raman interaction with THz and MIR light. This paper demonstrated a different way: exciting one phonon mode linearly which then excites another Raman-only mode by phonon-phonon coupling. It produced a new way to access the lattice degree of freedom with light.

Single-molecule strong coupling at room temperature in plasmonic nanocavities

10.1038/nature17974

Historically, strong-coupling between light and electrons was found in very clean systems. For example, atoms trapped in vacuum interacting with a finely-produced cavity. In this paper the authors manage to strongly couple a molecule with the near field of a plasmonic structure at room-temperature.

Matrix Fourier optics enables a compact full-Stokes polarization camera

10.1126/science.aax1839

Metasurfaces are surfaces that contain sub-wavelength features that facilitate new ways to manipulate fields in general and light in particular. In this paper, the authors demonstrate a metasurface that sorts the different degree of freedom of polarization and use it to build a camera that can completely characterize the polarization of an image in one shot.

Directly visualizing the momentum-forbidden dark excitons and their dynamics in atomically thin semiconductors

10.1126/science.aba1029

We often consider only excitons in which the electron and hole have the same k vector, direct excitons. This is, in part, because observing indirect exciton, who don’t interact with light, is difficult. This work demonstrates how one can measure the presence of indirect excitons by a cutting-edge implementation of angle-resolved photo-emission spectroscopy (ARPES). It studies a monolayer of WSe­2 , an exciting new playground for semiconductor Physics.

Light-induced charge density wave in LaTe3

10.1038/s41567-019-0705-3

Charge density waves (CDWs) are small periodic distortions in a quasi-one-dimensional lattice that can make a huge difference on its electronic properties. This work is part of a more general scheme in which, surprisingly, phase transitions can be induced by light that is completely off-resonant. Here, the authors induce a new CDW phase that doesn’t exist at all in equilibrium conditions.

Optical Fourier surfaces

10.1038/s41586-020-2390-x

It is surprising to discover that the gratings that we all use contain very simple shapes of saw-tooth or steps. This work demonstrates a new technique for producing much more sophisticated periodic surfaces. These enable new degrees of control for light. For example, Moiré patterns and quasi-crystals are generated and the diffraction of light from them is measured.

Fluorescence imaging through dynamic scattering media with speckle-encoded ultrasound-modulated light correlation

10.1038/s41566-020-0630-0

What is worse than imaging through a scattering medium? Imaging though a scattering medium that keeps changing! In this work, researchers develop a new microscopy technique in which the continuous change of scattering is actually a feature rather than a bug. When a focused ultra-sound wave coincides with a fluorescent object, both the fluorescence and acousto-optically shifted photons fluctuate in a correlated manner. This might enable fluorescent imaging deep within a scattering medium, a holy grail for life-science and medicine.

Scattering invariant modes of light in complex media

10.1038/s41566-021-00789-9

 

A thick scattering medium typically changes the transmitted field in phase and amplitude so it doesn’t even resemble the original field. However, this work shows that one can find some modes which would transmit through a specific medium and air in exactly the same way. The paper experimentally demonstrates the similarity of these modes in both phase and amplitude and simulates how they can be used for imaging.

All-optical fluorescence blinking control in quantum dots with ultrafast mid-infrared pulses

10.1038/s41565-021-01016-w

Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are great.. except for when they blink (almost always!), i.e. their intensity constantly fluctuates between a dark and bright state. This problem inhibited many applications of CQDs and after  a lot of efforts some specific solutions were found in terms of chemical synthesis. This work finds a surprising and different solution. CQDs switch from a dark to a bright state under illumination with strong-field MIR pulse. The authors try to explain why does this occur.