Pub Date : 2026-01-03DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-02103-6
Hailong He, Angelos Karlas, Nikolina-Alexia Fasoula, Chiara Fischer, Ulf Darsow, Michael Kallmayer, Juan Aguirre, Hans-Henning Eckstein, Vasilis Ntziachristos
Microvascular endothelial dysfunction (MiVED) is an early marker of endothelial impairment, often preceding dysfunction in large arteries. Although MiVED assessment could reveal new insights into the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or offer earlier detection and finer disease stratification, detailed in-vivo MiVED observation remains challenging due to a lack of suitable technologies. To address this gap, we hypothesized that accelerating ultra-wideband raster-scan optoacoustic mesoscopy (RSOM), i.e., fast RSOM (fRSOM), could resolve for the first time cutaneous MiVED features at single capillary resolution. We investigated whether we could record morphological features and dynamic responses during post-occlusive reactive hyperemia to achieve the most detailed observation of microvascular endothelial function to date. Our results show that using fRSOM on skin clearly measured the effects of smoking (N = 20) and atherosclerotic CVD (N = 20) on cutaneous endothelial function. For the first time, we found layer-specific effects, with smoking and CVD affecting the sub-papillary dermis differently than the reticular dermis; a finding not resolvable using “bulk” volumetric signals from laser Doppler flowmetry or tissue spectrometry. Interestingly, we observed no substantial structural changes in the microvasculature of smokers and volunteers with CVD, indicating that MiVED may be an earlier marker than morphology-based biomarkers typically assessed by histological studies. Our study introduces a non-invasive modality that enables the visualization and quantification of skin microvascular structure and function, bridging a technological gap and offering new insights into the effects of diseases on MiVED. This study potentially paves the way for fRSOM use as an early detection, diagnostic, or theranostic marker.
{"title":"Single-capillary endothelial dysfunction resolved by optoacoustic mesoscopy","authors":"Hailong He, Angelos Karlas, Nikolina-Alexia Fasoula, Chiara Fischer, Ulf Darsow, Michael Kallmayer, Juan Aguirre, Hans-Henning Eckstein, Vasilis Ntziachristos","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-02103-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02103-6","url":null,"abstract":"Microvascular endothelial dysfunction (MiVED) is an early marker of endothelial impairment, often preceding dysfunction in large arteries. Although MiVED assessment could reveal new insights into the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or offer earlier detection and finer disease stratification, detailed in-vivo MiVED observation remains challenging due to a lack of suitable technologies. To address this gap, we hypothesized that accelerating ultra-wideband raster-scan optoacoustic mesoscopy (RSOM), i.e., fast RSOM (fRSOM), could resolve for the first time cutaneous MiVED features at single capillary resolution. We investigated whether we could record morphological features and dynamic responses during post-occlusive reactive hyperemia to achieve the most detailed observation of microvascular endothelial function to date. Our results show that using fRSOM on skin clearly measured the effects of smoking (N = 20) and atherosclerotic CVD (N = 20) on cutaneous endothelial function. For the first time, we found layer-specific effects, with smoking and CVD affecting the sub-papillary dermis differently than the reticular dermis; a finding not resolvable using “bulk” volumetric signals from laser Doppler flowmetry or tissue spectrometry. Interestingly, we observed no substantial structural changes in the microvasculature of smokers and volunteers with CVD, indicating that MiVED may be an earlier marker than morphology-based biomarkers typically assessed by histological studies. Our study introduces a non-invasive modality that enables the visualization and quantification of skin microvascular structure and function, bridging a technological gap and offering new insights into the effects of diseases on MiVED. This study potentially paves the way for fRSOM use as an early detection, diagnostic, or theranostic marker.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"386 1","pages":"37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145894303","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}
Realizing active metasurfaces with substantial tunability is important for many applications but remains challenging due to difficulties in dynamically tuning light-matter interactions at subwavelength scales. Here, we introduce reversible metal electrodeposition as a versatile approach for enabling active metasurfaces with exceptional tunability across a broad bandwidth. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate a dynamic beam-steering device by performing reversible copper (Cu) electrodeposition on a reflective gradient metasurface composed of metal-insulator-metal resonators. By applying different voltages, the Cu atoms can be uniformly and reversibly electrodeposited and stripped around the resonators, effectively controlling the gap-surface plasmon resonances and steering the reflected light. This process experimentally achieved >90% diffraction efficiencies and >60% reflection efficiencies in both specular and anomalous modes, even after thousands of cycles. Moreover, these high efficiencies can be extended from the visible to the near- and mid-infrared regimes, demonstrating the broad versatility of this approach in enabling various active optical and thermal devices with different working wavelengths and bandwidths.
{"title":"High-efficiency broadband active metasurfaces via reversible metal electrodeposition","authors":"Qizhang Li, Sachin Prashant Kulkarni, Chenxi Sui, Ting-Hsuan Chen, Gangbin Yan, Ronghui Wu, Wen Chen, Pei-Jan Hung, Xubing Wu, Tadej Emersic, Koray Aydin, Po-Chun Hsu","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-02136-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02136-x","url":null,"abstract":"Realizing active metasurfaces with substantial tunability is important for many applications but remains challenging due to difficulties in dynamically tuning light-matter interactions at subwavelength scales. Here, we introduce reversible metal electrodeposition as a versatile approach for enabling active metasurfaces with exceptional tunability across a broad bandwidth. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate a dynamic beam-steering device by performing reversible copper (Cu) electrodeposition on a reflective gradient metasurface composed of metal-insulator-metal resonators. By applying different voltages, the Cu atoms can be uniformly and reversibly electrodeposited and stripped around the resonators, effectively controlling the gap-surface plasmon resonances and steering the reflected light. This process experimentally achieved >90% diffraction efficiencies and >60% reflection efficiencies in both specular and anomalous modes, even after thousands of cycles. Moreover, these high efficiencies can be extended from the visible to the near- and mid-infrared regimes, demonstrating the broad versatility of this approach in enabling various active optical and thermal devices with different working wavelengths and bandwidths.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145894307","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}
The ability to precisely generate and manipulate three-dimensional (3D) vectorial optical fields is crucial for advancing applications in volumetric displays, secure data encoding, and optical information processing. However, conventional holographic techniques generally lack the capability to simultaneously control both light intensity and polarization within a volumetric region, thereby limiting the full realization of complex 3D vectorial light fields. Here, we present a metasurface-based platform for 3D vectorial holography that enables independent and programmable control over axial intensity and polarization profiles within structured beam arrays. By decomposing complex volumetric holographic targets into a dense array of non-diffracting beams—each governed by a tailored longitudinal response function—we achieve broadband, high-fidelity reconstruction of vectorial light fields encoded in both spatial intensity and polarization domains. Moreover, we demonstrate a vectorial encryption scheme that exploits the combined axial intensity and polarization degrees of freedom to realize secure, key-based optical information encoding. This approach provides a compact, integrable, and scalable solution for 3D vectorial holographic projection and volumetric vector beam shaping, offering a versatile platform for high-capacity optical storage, secure communication, and emerging quantum photonic technologies.
{"title":"Longitudinally engineered metasurfaces for 3D vectorial holography","authors":"Le Tan, Pengcheng Huo, Peicheng Lin, Yongze Ren, Haocun Qi, Lizhi Fang, Yilin Wang, Junfei Ou, Yanqing Lu, Ting Xu","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-02158-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-02158-5","url":null,"abstract":"The ability to precisely generate and manipulate three-dimensional (3D) vectorial optical fields is crucial for advancing applications in volumetric displays, secure data encoding, and optical information processing. However, conventional holographic techniques generally lack the capability to simultaneously control both light intensity and polarization within a volumetric region, thereby limiting the full realization of complex 3D vectorial light fields. Here, we present a metasurface-based platform for 3D vectorial holography that enables independent and programmable control over axial intensity and polarization profiles within structured beam arrays. By decomposing complex volumetric holographic targets into a dense array of non-diffracting beams—each governed by a tailored longitudinal response function—we achieve broadband, high-fidelity reconstruction of vectorial light fields encoded in both spatial intensity and polarization domains. Moreover, we demonstrate a vectorial encryption scheme that exploits the combined axial intensity and polarization degrees of freedom to realize secure, key-based optical information encoding. This approach provides a compact, integrable, and scalable solution for 3D vectorial holographic projection and volumetric vector beam shaping, offering a versatile platform for high-capacity optical storage, secure communication, and emerging quantum photonic technologies.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"28 1","pages":"36"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145894306","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}
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}
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