An integrated photonics platform that offers high-speed modulators in addition to low-loss and versatile passive components is highly sought after for different applications ranging from AI to next-generation Tbit/s links in optical fiber communication. For this purpose, we introduce the plasmonic BTO-on-SiN platform for high-speed electro-optic modulators. This platform combines the advantages provided by low-loss silicon nitride (SiN) photonics with the highly nonlinear barium titanate (BTO) as the active material. Nanoscale plasmonics enables high-speed modulators operating at electro-optical bandwidths up to 110 GHz with active lengths as short as 5 µm. Here, we demonstrate three different modulators: a 256 GBd C-band Mach-Zehnder (MZ) modulator, a 224 GBd C-band IQ modulator - being both the first BTO IQ and the first IQ modulator on SiN for data communication - and finally, a 200 GBd O-band racetrack (RT) modulator. With this approach we show record data rates of 448 Gbit/s with the IQ modulator and 340 Gbit/s with the MZ modulator. Furthermore, we demonstrate the first plasmonic RT modulator with BTO and how it is ideally suited for low complexity communication in the O-band with low device loss of 2 dB. This work leverages the SiN platform and shows the potential of this technology to serve as a solution to combat the ever-increasing demand for fast modulators.
{"title":"The plasmonic BTO-on-SiN platform - beyond 200 GBd modulation for optical communications.","authors":"Manuel Kohli,Daniel Chelladurai,Laurenz Kulmer,Tobias Blatter,Yannik Horst,Killian Keller,Michael Doderer,Joel Winiger,David Moor,Andreas Messner,Tatiana Buriakova,Clarissa Convertino,Felix Eltes,Yuriy Fedoryshyn,Ueli Koch,Juerg Leuthold","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-02116-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02116-1","url":null,"abstract":"An integrated photonics platform that offers high-speed modulators in addition to low-loss and versatile passive components is highly sought after for different applications ranging from AI to next-generation Tbit/s links in optical fiber communication. For this purpose, we introduce the plasmonic BTO-on-SiN platform for high-speed electro-optic modulators. This platform combines the advantages provided by low-loss silicon nitride (SiN) photonics with the highly nonlinear barium titanate (BTO) as the active material. Nanoscale plasmonics enables high-speed modulators operating at electro-optical bandwidths up to 110 GHz with active lengths as short as 5 µm. Here, we demonstrate three different modulators: a 256 GBd C-band Mach-Zehnder (MZ) modulator, a 224 GBd C-band IQ modulator - being both the first BTO IQ and the first IQ modulator on SiN for data communication - and finally, a 200 GBd O-band racetrack (RT) modulator. With this approach we show record data rates of 448 Gbit/s with the IQ modulator and 340 Gbit/s with the MZ modulator. Furthermore, we demonstrate the first plasmonic RT modulator with BTO and how it is ideally suited for low complexity communication in the O-band with low device loss of 2 dB. This work leverages the SiN platform and shows the potential of this technology to serve as a solution to combat the ever-increasing demand for fast modulators.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"20 1","pages":"399"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145760193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-11DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-01988-7
Rui Ma, Zijun Huang, X. Steve Yao, Peng Hao, Wei Ke, Xinlun Cai
We demonstrate the first Fourier-domain mode-locked optoelectronic oscillator (FDML OEO) fabricated on the thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) platform, deploying an electrically tuned ultra-fast frequency-scanning filter, thanks to the high-speed Pockels effect in TFLN. Record-breaking high radiofrequency oscillations up to 65 GHz are achieved, with a phase noise more than 14 dB less at 50 GHz than that of a high-performance commercial signal source at an offset frequency of 10 kHz away from the carrier. A linearly chirped microwave waveform with an unprecedented scanning bandwidth of 30 GHz, corresponding to an impressive chirp rate of 5.7 GHz/μs and a large time-bandwidth product of 159054, is successfully generated by the FDML OEO. These results validate the feasibility of utilizing TFLN to fabricate integrated FDML OEOs capable of delivering ultra-wide scanning bandwidth at chirp rates and frequencies not attainable with any other approaches to date.
{"title":"V-band ultra-fast tunable thin-film lithium niobate Fourier-domain mode-locked optoelectronic oscillator","authors":"Rui Ma, Zijun Huang, X. Steve Yao, Peng Hao, Wei Ke, Xinlun Cai","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01988-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01988-7","url":null,"abstract":"We demonstrate the first Fourier-domain mode-locked optoelectronic oscillator (FDML OEO) fabricated on the thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) platform, deploying an electrically tuned ultra-fast frequency-scanning filter, thanks to the high-speed Pockels effect in TFLN. Record-breaking high radiofrequency oscillations up to 65 GHz are achieved, with a phase noise more than 14 dB less at 50 GHz than that of a high-performance commercial signal source at an offset frequency of 10 kHz away from the carrier. A linearly chirped microwave waveform with an unprecedented scanning bandwidth of 30 GHz, corresponding to an impressive chirp rate of 5.7 GHz/μs and a large time-bandwidth product of 159054, is successfully generated by the FDML OEO. These results validate the feasibility of utilizing TFLN to fabricate integrated FDML OEOs capable of delivering ultra-wide scanning bandwidth at chirp rates and frequencies not attainable with any other approaches to date.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"146 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145718487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-11DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-01978-9
Jie Liao, Maxwell Adolphson, Hangyue Li, Dipayon Kumar Sikder, Chenyang Lu, Lan Yang
Micro and nanoscale particles have played crucial roles across diverse fields, from biomedical imaging and environmental processes to early disease diagnosis, influencing numerous scientific research and industrial applications. Their unique characteristics demand accurate detection, characterization, and identification. However, conventional spectroscopy and microscopy commonly used to characterize and identify tiny objects often involve bulky equipment and intricate, time-consuming sample preparation. Over the past two decades, optical micro-sensors have emerged as a promising sensor technology with their high sensitivity and compact configuration. However, their broad applicability is constrained by the requirement of surface binding for selective sensing and the difficulty in differentiating between various sensing targets, which limits their application in detecting targets in their native state or in complex biological samples. Developing label-free and immobilization-free sensing techniques that can directly detect target particles in complex solutions is crucial for overcoming the inherent limitations of current biosensors. In this study, we design and demonstrate an optofluidic, high throughput, ultra-sensitive optical microresonator sensor that can capture subtle acoustic signals, generated by tiny particles from the absorption of pulsed light energy, providing photoacoustic spectroscopy information for real-time, label-free detection and interrogation of particles and cells in their native solution environments across an extended sensing volume. Leveraging unique optical absorption of the targets, our technique can selectively detect and classify particles flowing through the sensor systems without the need for surface binding, even in a complex sample matrix, such as whole blood samples. We showcase the measurement of gold nanoparticles with diverse geometries and different species of red blood cells in the presence of other cellular elements and a wide variety of proteins. These particles are effectively identified and classified based on their photoacoustic fingerprint that captures particle shape, composition, molecule properties, and morphology features. This work opens up new avenues to achieve rapid, reliable, and high-throughput particle and cell identification in clinical and industrial applications, offering a valuable tool for understanding complex biological and environmental systems.
{"title":"Whispering-gallery-mode resonators for detection and classification of free-flowing nanoparticles and cells through photoacoustic signatures","authors":"Jie Liao, Maxwell Adolphson, Hangyue Li, Dipayon Kumar Sikder, Chenyang Lu, Lan Yang","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01978-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01978-9","url":null,"abstract":"Micro and nanoscale particles have played crucial roles across diverse fields, from biomedical imaging and environmental processes to early disease diagnosis, influencing numerous scientific research and industrial applications. Their unique characteristics demand accurate detection, characterization, and identification. However, conventional spectroscopy and microscopy commonly used to characterize and identify tiny objects often involve bulky equipment and intricate, time-consuming sample preparation. Over the past two decades, optical micro-sensors have emerged as a promising sensor technology with their high sensitivity and compact configuration. However, their broad applicability is constrained by the requirement of surface binding for selective sensing and the difficulty in differentiating between various sensing targets, which limits their application in detecting targets in their native state or in complex biological samples. Developing label-free and immobilization-free sensing techniques that can directly detect target particles in complex solutions is crucial for overcoming the inherent limitations of current biosensors. In this study, we design and demonstrate an optofluidic, high throughput, ultra-sensitive optical microresonator sensor that can capture subtle acoustic signals, generated by tiny particles from the absorption of pulsed light energy, providing photoacoustic spectroscopy information for real-time, label-free detection and interrogation of particles and cells in their native solution environments across an extended sensing volume. Leveraging unique optical absorption of the targets, our technique can selectively detect and classify particles flowing through the sensor systems without the need for surface binding, even in a complex sample matrix, such as whole blood samples. We showcase the measurement of gold nanoparticles with diverse geometries and different species of red blood cells in the presence of other cellular elements and a wide variety of proteins. These particles are effectively identified and classified based on their photoacoustic fingerprint that captures particle shape, composition, molecule properties, and morphology features. This work opens up new avenues to achieve rapid, reliable, and high-throughput particle and cell identification in clinical and industrial applications, offering a valuable tool for understanding complex biological and environmental systems.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"112 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145718493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-05DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-02064-w
Can Yu, Meng Zhang, Lei Liang, Li Qin, Yongyi Chen, Yuxin Lei, Yubing Wang, Yue Song, Cheng Qiu, Peng Jia, Dabing Li, Lijun Wang
Transfer printing is a powerful and versatile integration method that is attracting increasing attention as regards both scientific research and industrial manufacturing. The transfer printing technique utilizes the viscoelastic properties of a stamp to pick devices (ink) from a donor substrate and print them onto a target substrate, exploiting the competition between several interfacial adhesion forces. The overall yield can be improved through the introduction of external stimuli such as light, heat, solution, pressure, and magnetic fields during the transfer printing operation. This review summarizes different transfer printing methods based on their working principles and discusses their detailed applications in photonic integrated circuits, taking lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, photodetectors, and other optical electronic elements as examples. Hence, the feasibility and viability of transfer printing are illustrated. Additionally, future challenges and opportunities for innovative development are discussed.
{"title":"Advancements in transfer printing techniques and their applications in photonic integrated circuits","authors":"Can Yu, Meng Zhang, Lei Liang, Li Qin, Yongyi Chen, Yuxin Lei, Yubing Wang, Yue Song, Cheng Qiu, Peng Jia, Dabing Li, Lijun Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-02064-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02064-w","url":null,"abstract":"Transfer printing is a powerful and versatile integration method that is attracting increasing attention as regards both scientific research and industrial manufacturing. The transfer printing technique utilizes the viscoelastic properties of a stamp to pick devices (ink) from a donor substrate and print them onto a target substrate, exploiting the competition between several interfacial adhesion forces. The overall yield can be improved through the introduction of external stimuli such as light, heat, solution, pressure, and magnetic fields during the transfer printing operation. This review summarizes different transfer printing methods based on their working principles and discusses their detailed applications in photonic integrated circuits, taking lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, photodetectors, and other optical electronic elements as examples. Hence, the feasibility and viability of transfer printing are illustrated. Additionally, future challenges and opportunities for innovative development are discussed.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145680206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles enable upconversion stimulated emission depletion microscopy with high photostability and low-intensity near-infrared continuous-wave lasers. Controlling energy transfer dynamics in these nanoparticles is crucial for super-resolution microscopy with minimal laser intensities and high photon budgets. However, traditional methods neglect the spatial distribution of lanthanide ions and its effect on energy transfer dynamics. Here, we introduce topology-driven energy transfer networks in lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles for upconversion stimulated emission depletion microscopy with reduced laser intensities, maintaining a high photon budget. Spatial separation of Yb3+ sensitizers and Tm3+ emitters in 50-nm core-shell nanoparticles enhance energy transfer dynamics for super-resolution microscopy. Topology-dependent energy migration produces strong 450-nm upconversion luminescence under low-power 980-nm excitation. Enhanced cross-relaxation improves optical switching efficiency, achieving a saturation intensity of 0.06 MW cm-2 under excitation at 980 nm and depletion at 808 nm. Super-resolution imaging with a 65-nm lateral resolution is achieved using intensities of 0.03 MW cm-2 for a Gaussian-shaped excitation laser at 980 nm and 1 MW cm-2 for a donut-shaped depletion laser at 808 nm, representing a 10-fold reduction in excitation intensity and a 3-fold reduction in depletion intensity compared to conventional methods. These findings demonstrate the potential of harnessing topology-dependent energy transfer dynamics in upconversion nanoparticles for advancing low-power super-resolution applications.
{"title":"Topology-driven energy transfer networks for upconversion stimulated emission depletion microscopy.","authors":"Weizhao Gu,Simone Lamon,Haoyi Yu,Qiming Zhang,Min Gu","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-02054-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02054-y","url":null,"abstract":"Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles enable upconversion stimulated emission depletion microscopy with high photostability and low-intensity near-infrared continuous-wave lasers. Controlling energy transfer dynamics in these nanoparticles is crucial for super-resolution microscopy with minimal laser intensities and high photon budgets. However, traditional methods neglect the spatial distribution of lanthanide ions and its effect on energy transfer dynamics. Here, we introduce topology-driven energy transfer networks in lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles for upconversion stimulated emission depletion microscopy with reduced laser intensities, maintaining a high photon budget. Spatial separation of Yb3+ sensitizers and Tm3+ emitters in 50-nm core-shell nanoparticles enhance energy transfer dynamics for super-resolution microscopy. Topology-dependent energy migration produces strong 450-nm upconversion luminescence under low-power 980-nm excitation. Enhanced cross-relaxation improves optical switching efficiency, achieving a saturation intensity of 0.06 MW cm-2 under excitation at 980 nm and depletion at 808 nm. Super-resolution imaging with a 65-nm lateral resolution is achieved using intensities of 0.03 MW cm-2 for a Gaussian-shaped excitation laser at 980 nm and 1 MW cm-2 for a donut-shaped depletion laser at 808 nm, representing a 10-fold reduction in excitation intensity and a 3-fold reduction in depletion intensity compared to conventional methods. These findings demonstrate the potential of harnessing topology-dependent energy transfer dynamics in upconversion nanoparticles for advancing low-power super-resolution applications.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"1 1","pages":"395"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145663906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-02008-4
Junling Hu,Sa Zhang,Meiyu Cai,Mingjian Ma,Shuguang Li,Hailiang Chen,Sigang Yang
Optical fiber interferometric sensors are of great importance in chemistry, biology, and medicine disciplines owing to high-sensitivity and high-quality factor. However, due to the limitation of free spectral range, the inherent trade-off between wide measurement range and high sensitivity poses a persistent challenge in interference sensor development, which has fundamentally hindered their widespread adoption in precision measurement applications. In this work, a long short-term memory neural network is utilized in a Mach-Zehnder interference-based refractive index sensor to break the free spectral range limitation. Unique gating mechanism in long short-term memory neural network enables it to efficiently process long-term dependent sequence information, such as interference spectrum, avoiding the need for complex spectral signal analysis. A one-to-one mapping relationship is established between the interference spectrum and refractive index with root mean square error of 3.029 × 10-4 and a coefficient of determination of 0.99971. The measurement range is extended from a single free spectral range of 1.3333-1.3561 to approximately three free spectral ranges of 1.3333-1.3921 without sacrificing sensitivity. Moreover, a wider measurement range can be achieved with sufficient training data. This work successfully resolves the inherent contradiction between high sensitivity and wide dynamic measurement range in optical interference-based sensors, opening up a path for the next generation of intelligent sensing systems.
{"title":"LSTM-assisted optical fiber interferometric sensing: breaking the limitation of free spectral range.","authors":"Junling Hu,Sa Zhang,Meiyu Cai,Mingjian Ma,Shuguang Li,Hailiang Chen,Sigang Yang","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-02008-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02008-4","url":null,"abstract":"Optical fiber interferometric sensors are of great importance in chemistry, biology, and medicine disciplines owing to high-sensitivity and high-quality factor. However, due to the limitation of free spectral range, the inherent trade-off between wide measurement range and high sensitivity poses a persistent challenge in interference sensor development, which has fundamentally hindered their widespread adoption in precision measurement applications. In this work, a long short-term memory neural network is utilized in a Mach-Zehnder interference-based refractive index sensor to break the free spectral range limitation. Unique gating mechanism in long short-term memory neural network enables it to efficiently process long-term dependent sequence information, such as interference spectrum, avoiding the need for complex spectral signal analysis. A one-to-one mapping relationship is established between the interference spectrum and refractive index with root mean square error of 3.029 × 10-4 and a coefficient of determination of 0.99971. The measurement range is extended from a single free spectral range of 1.3333-1.3561 to approximately three free spectral ranges of 1.3333-1.3921 without sacrificing sensitivity. Moreover, a wider measurement range can be achieved with sufficient training data. This work successfully resolves the inherent contradiction between high sensitivity and wide dynamic measurement range in optical interference-based sensors, opening up a path for the next generation of intelligent sensing systems.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"25 1","pages":"392"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145644907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-27DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-01992-x
Sandeep Kumar Kalva, Cagla Özsoy, Daniil Nozdriukhin, Savannah Tiemann, Lin Tang, Xosé Luís Deán-Ben, Daniel Razansky
High-speed volumetric optoacoustic tomography (VOT) offers powerful means for noninvasive, detailed visualization of rapid cardiac dynamics in mice. However, current implementations suffer from non-uniform light delivery into the thoracic area, which results in diminished penetration depth, limited field-of-view, and compromised quantification abilities. In this work, we devised a new VOT approach featuring hexagonally-shaped light delivery optimized for whole-heart imaging and an expedited imaging speed of 200 volumes per second using a custom-made spherical array transducer. The enhanced imaging performance was confirmed with calibration phantoms and noninvasive imaging of the murine heart. We capitalized on the reduced hemoglobin absorption in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) spectral window to mitigate the strong light attenuation by whole blood within the cardiac chambers while further employing copper sulfide nanoparticles featuring a strong NIR-II absorption to quantify cardiac functional parameters across the entire heart in vivo. The new approach can thus facilitate the monitoring of cardiac abnormalities and assessment of therapeutic interventions.
{"title":"Toward noninvasive optoacoustic imaging of whole-heart dynamics in mice","authors":"Sandeep Kumar Kalva, Cagla Özsoy, Daniil Nozdriukhin, Savannah Tiemann, Lin Tang, Xosé Luís Deán-Ben, Daniel Razansky","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01992-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01992-x","url":null,"abstract":"High-speed volumetric optoacoustic tomography (VOT) offers powerful means for noninvasive, detailed visualization of rapid cardiac dynamics in mice. However, current implementations suffer from non-uniform light delivery into the thoracic area, which results in diminished penetration depth, limited field-of-view, and compromised quantification abilities. In this work, we devised a new VOT approach featuring hexagonally-shaped light delivery optimized for whole-heart imaging and an expedited imaging speed of 200 volumes per second using a custom-made spherical array transducer. The enhanced imaging performance was confirmed with calibration phantoms and noninvasive imaging of the murine heart. We capitalized on the reduced hemoglobin absorption in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) spectral window to mitigate the strong light attenuation by whole blood within the cardiac chambers while further employing copper sulfide nanoparticles featuring a strong NIR-II absorption to quantify cardiac functional parameters across the entire heart in vivo. The new approach can thus facilitate the monitoring of cardiac abnormalities and assessment of therapeutic interventions.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145608808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-26DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-01989-6
Danheng Gao, Jiahao Liu, Xiao Liu, Kang He, Zhanyu Ma, Huan Liu, Jihou Wang, Qihan Zhang, Zhaonan Huang, Meng Luo, Haoran Meng, Rui Du, Juntao Gao, Qing Wu, Xinghua Yang
Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) integrated with optical waveguide sensing offers a transformative approach to overcoming the limitations of conventional SERS techniques, such as complex alignment requirements and limited signal collection efficiency. By leveraging the unique properties of optical waveguides, this integration significantly enhances detection sensitivity, simplifies sensor design, and enables the analysis of ultra-low concentration analytes in trace-volume samples. This review explores the latest advancements in combining diverse optical waveguide architectures with SERS technology, focusing on strategies to optimize the sensing interface and SERS substrate design for maximal Raman signal enhancement. By enabling efficient analyte excitation and enhanced scattered signal collection through waveguide-mediated light-matter interactions, this approach unlocks new possibilities for high-sensitivity Raman detection. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of this integration to drive breakthroughs in fields such as biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and chemical sensing, paving the way for next-generation, portable and ultra-sensitive sensing platforms.
{"title":"Emerging frontiers in SERS-integrated optical waveguides: advancing portable and ultra-sensitive detection for trace liquid analysis","authors":"Danheng Gao, Jiahao Liu, Xiao Liu, Kang He, Zhanyu Ma, Huan Liu, Jihou Wang, Qihan Zhang, Zhaonan Huang, Meng Luo, Haoran Meng, Rui Du, Juntao Gao, Qing Wu, Xinghua Yang","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01989-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01989-6","url":null,"abstract":"Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) integrated with optical waveguide sensing offers a transformative approach to overcoming the limitations of conventional SERS techniques, such as complex alignment requirements and limited signal collection efficiency. By leveraging the unique properties of optical waveguides, this integration significantly enhances detection sensitivity, simplifies sensor design, and enables the analysis of ultra-low concentration analytes in trace-volume samples. This review explores the latest advancements in combining diverse optical waveguide architectures with SERS technology, focusing on strategies to optimize the sensing interface and SERS substrate design for maximal Raman signal enhancement. By enabling efficient analyte excitation and enhanced scattered signal collection through waveguide-mediated light-matter interactions, this approach unlocks new possibilities for high-sensitivity Raman detection. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of this integration to drive breakthroughs in fields such as biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and chemical sensing, paving the way for next-generation, portable and ultra-sensitive sensing platforms.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145599382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A new ratiometric Boltzmann thermometry approach is presented for the narrow-line red-emitting bright phosphor Al 0.993 Cr 0.007 B 4 O 6 N. It relies on thermalization between the two excited states 2Eg ( 2 G) and 2T 1 g ( 2 G) of Cr 3+ with an energy gap of 620 cm −1 for optimized thermometry at room temperature. It is shown that nonradiative coupling between these excited states is very fast, with rates in the order of several µs −1 . Due to the comparably slow radiative decay ( kr = 0.033 ms −1 ) of the lowest excited 2Eg ( 2 G) state, the dynamic working range of this Boltzmann thermometer for the deep red spectral range is exceptionally wide, between <77 K and >873 K, even outperforming the classic workhorse example of Er 3+ . At temperatures above 340 K, also spectrally well-resolved broad-band emission due to the spin-allowed 4T 2 g ( 4 F) → 4A 2 g ( 4 F) transition is detectable, which simultaneously offers a possibility of very sensitive ( Sr (500 K) > 2% K −1 ) ratiometric Boltzmann-type crossover thermometry for higher temperatures. These findings imply that Al 0.993 Cr 0.007 B 4 O 6 N is a particularly robust and bright red luminescent thermometer with a record-breaking dynamic working range for a luminescent transition metal ion.
{"title":"Ratiometric Boltzmann thermometry with Cr3+ in strong ligand fields: Efficient nonradiative coupling for record dynamic working ranges","authors":"Gülsüm Kinik, Ingo Widmann, Benedikt Bendel, Hubert Huppertz, Andries Meijerink, Markus Suta","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-02082-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02082-8","url":null,"abstract":"A new ratiometric Boltzmann thermometry approach is presented for the narrow-line red-emitting bright phosphor Al <jats:sub>0.993</jats:sub> Cr <jats:sub>0.007</jats:sub> B <jats:sub>4</jats:sub> O <jats:sub>6</jats:sub> N. It relies on thermalization between the two excited states <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> <jats:italic>E</jats:italic> <jats:sub> <jats:italic>g</jats:italic> </jats:sub> ( <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> G) and <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> <jats:italic>T</jats:italic> <jats:sub> 1 <jats:italic>g</jats:italic> </jats:sub> ( <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> G) of Cr <jats:sup>3+</jats:sup> with an energy gap of 620 cm <jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> for optimized thermometry at room temperature. It is shown that nonradiative coupling between these excited states is very fast, with rates in the order of several µs <jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> . Due to the comparably slow radiative decay ( <jats:italic>k</jats:italic> <jats:sub>r</jats:sub> = 0.033 ms <jats:sup>−</jats:sup> <jats:sup>1</jats:sup> ) of the lowest excited <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> <jats:italic>E</jats:italic> <jats:sub> <jats:italic>g</jats:italic> </jats:sub> ( <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> G) state, the dynamic working range of this Boltzmann thermometer for the deep red spectral range is exceptionally wide, between <77 K and >873 K, even outperforming the classic workhorse example of Er <jats:sup>3+</jats:sup> . At temperatures above 340 K, also spectrally well-resolved broad-band emission due to the spin-allowed <jats:sup>4</jats:sup> <jats:italic>T</jats:italic> <jats:sub> 2 <jats:italic>g</jats:italic> </jats:sub> ( <jats:sup>4</jats:sup> F) → <jats:sup>4</jats:sup> <jats:italic>A</jats:italic> <jats:sub> 2 <jats:italic>g</jats:italic> </jats:sub> ( <jats:sup>4</jats:sup> F) transition is detectable, which simultaneously offers a possibility of very sensitive ( <jats:italic>S</jats:italic> <jats:sub>r</jats:sub> (500 K) > 2% K <jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> ) ratiometric Boltzmann-type crossover thermometry for higher temperatures. These findings imply that Al <jats:sub>0.993</jats:sub> Cr <jats:sub>0.007</jats:sub> B <jats:sub>4</jats:sub> O <jats:sub>6</jats:sub> N is a particularly robust and bright red luminescent thermometer with a record-breaking dynamic working range for a luminescent transition metal ion.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"185 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145593412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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