Researchers at EPFL have developed a photonic integrated circuit based erbium-doped amplifier that generates record output power and provides high gain, matching commercial EDFAs. This breakthrough enables new applications in optical communications, LiDAR, quantum sensing, and memories.
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Scientists have developed a built-in push-pull acousto-optic modulator with high energy overlap, achieving comparable efficiency to suspended counterparts. The device overcomes issues with low modulation efficiency and exhibits excellent characteristics for on-chip microwave-to-optical conversion devices.
By pairing two waveguides, one with an ill-defined topology and another with a well-defined one, researchers created a topological singularity that can halt waves in their tracks. This phenomenon has potential applications in energy harvesting and enhancing nonlinear effects.
Scientists have developed a new method of recording data using light on silicon waveguides, enabling non-volatile and high-performance magneto-optical memories. This breakthrough could lead to all-optical alternatives in telecommunications infrastructure and applications in optical computing.
Researchers developed new polymer materials with adjustable refractive index, enabling easy creation of optical interconnects between photonic chips and board-level circuits. The technology has the potential to boost Internet data center efficiency by reducing power consumption and heat generation.
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Researchers at Peking University propose a novel structure for a slot-strip mode converter, reducing optical insertion loss and supporting both TE0 and TM0 polarizations. The converter enables advanced functions like polarization division multiplexing, with low polarization-dependent losses.
Researchers developed a new framework to extract meaningful vectorial metrics from Mueller matrix elements, providing insights into exotic material characterization and precise cancer boundary detection. The framework establishes a universal metric for calculating different physical properties of target objects.
Topologists have successfully applied their tools to lasers, enabling the creation of a laser beam whose energies follow a topologically non-trivial loop. This property leads to unique amplification patterns in the light emitted by the laser.
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Researchers developed a new waveguide to overcome limitations in THz signal transmission and processing. The device allows for unprecedented flexibility towards manipulating THz pulses, enabling complex signal-processing functionalities such as holographic messaging.
Researchers have developed a new method for 3D imaging without distal optics, enabling high-resolution endomicroscopy with diameters below 0.5 millimeters. The approach uses diffractive optical elements to compensate phase distortions in fiber bundles, allowing for robust and low-cost medical imaging.
Researchers have made a significant advance in shrinking the size of particle accelerators by using intense lasers and plasmas. They demonstrated functional equivalent of a confining metal tube waveguide, generating plasma waveguiding of up to 300-terawatt laser pulses, and accelerating electrons up to 5 GeV over a distance of only 20 cm.
Researchers discovered a novel topological edge soliton that inherits topological protection from its linear counterpart, enabling robust and localized light beams. This breakthrough is achieved through nonlinear photorefractive lattices harnessing the valley Hall effect, without requiring an external magnetic field.
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Researchers have integrated holographic optical elements to create a waveguide eye-tracking system that can track eye movements in near-infrared wavelengths. This design enables the development of more efficient and powerful augmented reality systems.
Researchers at Duke University have developed a new approach to using sound waves to manipulate tiny particles suspended in liquid in complex ways. The 'shadow waveguide' technique creates a tightly confined, spatially complex acoustic field inside a chamber without requiring any interior structure.
Researchers achieved giant nonlinearity of UV hybrid light-matter states up to room temperature in a wide bandgap semiconductor material. This breakthrough enables the development of new on-chip ultrafast spectroscopy devices with unprecedented sensitivity.
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Scientists have discovered a way to modify the energy landscape of 2D materials by arranging them in a 3D configuration, creating parallel worlds with unique properties. This new arrangement, known as a nanomesh, has strong nonlinear optical properties and opens up possibilities for quantum computing and communication applications.
The article reviews progress in microstructure engineering and domain engineering of lithium niobate photonics, including photonic modulation and nonlinear photonics. High-efficiency wavelength converters using optical waveguides involve nonlinear integrated photonics.
A team of scientists has devised a mid-infrared free standing solid core optical waveguide that pushes the light interaction with air beyond previous reports. The guided mode resembles a free-space beam, with minimal overlap with material imperfections, reducing spurious fringes and loss.
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Researchers at Nanjing University designed a topological-insulator waveguide-resonator system that solves the critical coupling problem in electronics and photonics. The system supports spin-locked modes, eliminating backscattering and induced noise, while retaining transmission spectral characteristics.
Researchers at University of Fukui, Japan, create miniature laser-based device to project color HD video on the retina. The compact RGB scanning projector has potential applications in various fields including virtual and augmented reality, conferencing, surveillance, and remote-assisted surgery.
Researchers have developed a noninvasive method to measure the stiffness of tissues within the brain's gray and white matter, which can reveal clues about traumatic brain injuries. The new technique, known as waveguide elastography, merges acoustic imaging methods and algorithms to provide diagnostic insights.
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Researchers at SUTD demonstrate high-resolution 3D waveguides guiding light in a spiral and air-bridge configuration, achieving low loss and high bandwidth. The 3D fabrication enables error-free optical transmission at high speeds and showcases the devices' suitability as low-loss waveguides.
Researchers developed a novel spectroscopic technique to study stibnite nanostructures, revealing their potential as high-optical-quality waveguides. The technique allows for the measurement of spectrally resolved intensity profiles within individual nanodots, demonstrating that they can support four modes over a 200-nm bandwidth.
A team of scientists experimentally demonstrated nonlinearity-induced coupling of light into topological edge states using a photonic platform. They developed a general theoretical framework to explain the nonlinear process, revealing that nonlinearity enables energy flow from bulk modes into topological edge modes in linear systems.
Researchers have developed a weakly nonlinear waveguide that allows the stable propagation of azimuthons, which can exhibit Rabi oscillation. This technology enables new possibilities for encoding and encrypting optical information, and has potential applications in photonics and other fields.
MIT researchers develop an on-off system that allows for low-error quantum computations and rapid sharing of quantum information between processors. The system uses 'giant atoms' made from superconducting qubits, enabling high-fidelity operations and interconnection between processors.
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Researchers have designed a graded index waveguide that allows the width of a frequency comb to be more than doubled, compensating for material dispersion in silicon. This breakthrough enables the creation of chip-based frequency combs for high-precision spectroscopy and compact spectrometers.
Researchers used femtosecond laser direct write technology to simulate curved space-time near a black hole. They observed accelerated single-photon wave packets and fermion pairs escaping the black hole, mimicking Hawking radiation. This experiment demonstrates the potential for quantum simulation in studying general relativity.
A team of scientists from ITMO University developed a method to create optical chips in a Petri dish using gallium phosphide as a material for the waveguides. The new chip elements are three times smaller than those working in the IR spectral range, enabling compact and affordable production of lasers and waveguides.
Researchers from ITMO University have proposed a new data encoding method for the 6G standard using terahertz pulses. The method involves extending the pulse in time to increase its duration and achieve interference between two chirped pulses, enabling faster data transfer.
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A team of researchers from Brown and Rice University has developed a means of performing link discovery with terahertz radiation, enabling ultra-fast wireless data transmission. The approach uses a device called a leaky waveguide to exploit the properties of terahertz waves and track client devices in real-time.
Using technology that allows high-frequency signals to travel on regular phone lines, researchers successfully transmitted data at rates of terabits per second through a pair of copper wires. The discovery could enable faster data transfer in applications such as chip-to-chip communication and data center networks.
A miniature double particle accelerator has been built by DESY scientists, recycling some of the laser energy to boost the electrons' energy a second time. The device uses terahertz radiation and achieved an increase in electron energy from 55 to 56.5 kilo electron volts.
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Researchers from Light Publishing Center demonstrated an on-chip single-mode CdS nanowire laser with high coupling efficiency, achieving lasing at approximately 518.9 nm with a linewidth of 0.1 nm and side-mode suppression ratio of 20.
Scientists from Zhejiang University and Southeast University in China proposed a novel silicon-graphene hybrid plasmonic waveguide, achieving high-performance photodetectors beyond 1.55 μm. The graphene absorption efficiencies are as high as 54.3% and 68.6%, with measured responsivities of 30-70 mA/W at 2 μm and 0.4 A/W at 1.55 μm.
New waveguide platforms enable compact solutions for ultra-high-performance systems, moving key components to chip scale from large tabletop instruments. These platforms support a range of applications, including spectroscopy, precision metrology, and computation.
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Researchers at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology propose a radically new biosensor design that could increase detector sensitivity many times over, making it suitable for mobile and wearable devices. The new layout aims to make biosensors easier to manufacture, cheaper, and more responsive.
Physicists from MIPT and Russian universities have developed a parametric model to predict optimal waveguide configurations for magnonic circuits. The research reveals that spin wave interference can cause significant signal loss, leading to a breakthrough in designing efficient magnonic logic elements.
Scientists develop an all-optical switch operating in the femtosecond range with low energy consumption, breaking the trade-off between switching speed and energy. The device uses a nanoscale waveguide based on plasmonics and graphene to control optical signals.
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Scientists have doubled the highest electron energy ever produced by a laser plasma accelerator, reaching 7.8 billion electron volts (GeV) in an 8-inch-long plasma. This breakthrough is crucial for building next-generation particle colliders that accelerate electrons to extreme energies.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a compact spectrometer that can analyze infrared light in the same way as conventional spectrometers. The device uses special waveguides with an adjustable optical refractive index to disperse the spectrum of incident light, allowing for broad spectral analysis.
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed the world's thinnest optical device, a waveguide consisting of three layers of atoms thin. The waveguide channels light in the visible spectrum and supports electron-hole pairs, generating a strong optical response.
Researchers developed a new approach to multicolor holography, encoding images onto thin waveguide structures that guide light. This method produces complex multicolor holographic images with no need for bulky lenses or prisms, making it suitable for portable devices like augmented reality glasses and smartphones.
Researchers have developed a microfabrication method to create flexible light guides just over one micron wide in clear silicone, enabling smaller and more complex light-based devices. The tiny waveguides can be used for biomedical sensors, endoscopes, and wearable devices, with low light loss and high biocompatibility.
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Scientists from ITMO University propose a new technology for creating optical micro-waveguides using inkjet printing, which is optimized for industrial-scale production. This method removes major limitations in waveguide creation and has the potential to enable photon computing devices.
Scientists at NRL have developed a chip-based beam steering technology that steers laser light in two dimensions without mechanical devices, offering improved steering capability and higher scan speed rates. The new technology has potential applications in chemical sensing, monitoring emissions, and other industrial facilities.
Researchers developed a low-power chip that integrates lasers and frequency combs for the first time, enabling ultrafast processes in physics, biology and chemistry. The device can be powered by an AAA battery, opening up new possibilities for portable devices.
Researchers developed new magneto-plasmonic nanoscale routers and modulators for various nanophotonic functionalities. The devices exploit the propagation of surface-plasmon-polaritons in magneto-plasmonic waveguides to achieve high-contrast switching.
Researchers at MIT have designed an optical filter on a chip that can process optical signals from across an extremely wide spectrum of light. The technology offers greater precision and flexibility for designing photonic devices, studying photons, and other applications.
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A new protective metamaterial 'cladding' prevents light from leaking out of curvy pathways in computer chips, allowing for more efficient processing. This breakthrough enables the integration of photonic with electric circuitry, increasing communication speed and reducing power consumption.
Researchers develop a material made from laser-blasted glass doped with rare earth erbium ions, which could be used in integrated optical circuits. The material has promise as a broadband planar waveguide amplifier and could enable miniaturization of telecommunication devices.
A team of physicists has demonstrated a way to confine light in a waveguide array, making it insensitive to defects. This innovation could lead to cheaper and more efficient photonic devices, such as lasers and solar cells, by reducing material imperfections.
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A new approach to injecting light into silicon microdisks enhances the performance of chip-based biosensors, leading to more sensitive detection of diseases. The end-fire injection technique offers improved robustness and reduced cost, paving the way for commercial applications.
Researchers developed an inkjet printing technique to print optical components such as waveguides with high precision. The technique can also fabricate electronics and microfluidics, paving the way for combined devices on a single chip.
Researchers have developed a new waveguide technology that suppresses bend loss in 3D photonic integrated circuits, allowing for the creation of compact devices. The technology uses femtosecond laser direct writing to inscribe modification tracks in fused silica, increasing refractive index contrast and reducing bending losses.
Researchers at MSU develop a magnetic waveguide to sort and store neutrons based on their quantum state, enabling spintronics research. The breakthrough uses magnetic reflection to separate neutrons with different spins, opening up new possibilities for studying electronic devices.
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Researchers from ETH Zurich, USA, Germany, Italy, and Israel create a four-dimensional physical phenomenon in two dimensions using the quantum Hall effect. The team, led by Oded Zilberberg, demonstrates a virtual fourth dimension through topological pumping, enabling the observation of four-dimensional quantum Hall effect characteristics.
Researchers at Penn State and ETH Zurich have demonstrated the behavior of particles of light in a two-dimensional array of waveguides, matching predictions for the four-dimensional quantum Hall effect. This achievement provides evidence for higher-dimensional quantum Hall physics, with potential applications in novel photonic devices.
Researchers have developed an asymmetric sound absorber that can absorb sound energy while allowing light and air to pass through. The system uses a two-port design with a waveguide, enabling near-total absorption of sound energy from outside the room.
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem created a nanophotonic chip system using lasers and bacteria to observe fluorescence emitted from a single bacterial cell. The system enables efficient and portable on-chip sensing applications, including detecting chemicals in real-time.
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