Pub Date : 2025-12-15DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01807-w
Donghyo Hahm, Changjo Kim, Tung H. Dang, Valerio Pinchetti, Clément Livache, Victor I. Klimov
Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are promising materials for the development of solution-processed, colour-selectable lasers. However, most reported QD lasing devices rely on high-power femtosecond lasers as the pump source, which is impractical for technological applications. Here we demonstrate QD lasing using excitation from an electrically modulated (0.1–1% duty cycle), low-power continuous-wave laser diode, achieving lasing at a pump intensity just above 500 W cm−2 at 77 K and 3.6 kW cm−2 at room temperature. This achievement is enabled by type-(I + II) QDs, in which optical gain arises from hybrid direct/indirect biexcitons. These biexcitons exhibit strongly suppressed Auger recombination, resulting in a long optical gain lifetime of several nanoseconds. In addition, owing to fast radiative decay via the direct transition, type-(I + II) QDs exhibit a high material gain of approximately 1,200 cm−1. These properties are crucial for achieving lasing under continuous-wave pumping. Type-(I + II) QDs are also well suited for devices pumped by femtosecond optical pulses, enabling the realization of lasing in fully stacked electroluminescent devices and whispering-gallery-mode lasing in microdisks composed of densely packed QDs. Researchers demonstrate quantum dot lasing using excitation by an electrically modulated (0.1–1% duty cycle), low-power continuous-wave laser diode, achieving lasing at a pump intensity just above 500 W cm−2 at 77 K and 3.6 kW cm−2 at room temperature.
胶体量子点（QDs）是一种很有前途的材料，用于开发溶液加工的、可选颜色的激光器。然而，大多数报道的量子点激光装置依赖于高功率飞秒激光器作为泵浦源，这在技术应用上是不切实际的。在这里，我们演示了使用电调制（0.1-1%占空比）的低功率连续波激光二极管激发的QD激光，在77 K和室温下实现了超过500 W cm - 2的泵浦强度和3.6 kW cm - 2的激光。这一成就是通过-(I + II)型量子点实现的，其中光学增益来自混合直接/间接双激子。这些双激子表现出强烈的抑制俄歇复合，导致光学增益寿命长达几纳秒。此外，由于通过直接跃迁的快速辐射衰减，-(I + II)型量子点表现出大约1200 cm−1的高材料增益。这些特性对于实现连续波泵浦下的激光是至关重要的。类型-(I + II)量子点也非常适合于由飞秒光脉冲泵浦的器件，可以在完全堆叠的电致发光器件中实现激光，也可以在由密集排列的量子点组成的微盘中实现低语通道模式激光。
{"title":"Low-threshold lasing from colloidal quantum dots under quasi-continuous-wave excitation","authors":"Donghyo Hahm, Changjo Kim, Tung H. Dang, Valerio Pinchetti, Clément Livache, Victor I. Klimov","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01807-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01807-w","url":null,"abstract":"Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are promising materials for the development of solution-processed, colour-selectable lasers. However, most reported QD lasing devices rely on high-power femtosecond lasers as the pump source, which is impractical for technological applications. Here we demonstrate QD lasing using excitation from an electrically modulated (0.1–1% duty cycle), low-power continuous-wave laser diode, achieving lasing at a pump intensity just above 500 W cm−2 at 77 K and 3.6 kW cm−2 at room temperature. This achievement is enabled by type-(I + II) QDs, in which optical gain arises from hybrid direct/indirect biexcitons. These biexcitons exhibit strongly suppressed Auger recombination, resulting in a long optical gain lifetime of several nanoseconds. In addition, owing to fast radiative decay via the direct transition, type-(I + II) QDs exhibit a high material gain of approximately 1,200 cm−1. These properties are crucial for achieving lasing under continuous-wave pumping. Type-(I + II) QDs are also well suited for devices pumped by femtosecond optical pulses, enabling the realization of lasing in fully stacked electroluminescent devices and whispering-gallery-mode lasing in microdisks composed of densely packed QDs. Researchers demonstrate quantum dot lasing using excitation by an electrically modulated (0.1–1% duty cycle), low-power continuous-wave laser diode, achieving lasing at a pump intensity just above 500 W cm−2 at 77 K and 3.6 kW cm−2 at room temperature.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 2","pages":"208-215"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01807-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145759436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The photon-mediated conversion of CH4 and CO2 represents a green and sustainable route for producing transportation fuels and chemicals. Here we report an innovative, catalyst-free strategy for the conversion, by light, of CH4 and CO2 into CO/H2 and C2H6. High-energy photons with a wavelength of 185 nm were found to initiate the reaction, and the additional use of photons with different energies at longer wavelengths further improved the reaction efficiency. In particular, the combination of 185-nm and 200–1,100-nm photons enabled CO, H2 and C2H6 production rates of 3.1 mmol m−3 h−1, 1.93 mmol m−3 h−1 and 2.53 mmol m−3 h−1, respectively. Moderate addition of H2O was found to aid the reaction considerably. Moreover, a total gas conversion of 1.51% (24 h) was achieved in experiments simulating an oxygen-free environment. This work opens up a promising route for producing fuels and chemicals using CH4 and CO2 without the use of any catalysts, under ambient conditions. Catalyst-free conversion of methane and carbon dioxide using light of various wavelengths under ambient conditions is reported.
{"title":"Light-based catalyst-free conversion of CH4 and CO2","authors":"Jianxin Zhai, Ruo-Ya Wang, Xiao Chen, Baowen Zhou, Zhanghui Xia, Haihong Wu, Teng Xue, Shuaiqiang Jia, Chunjun Chen, Lihong Jing, Mingyuan He, Buxing Han","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01800-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01800-3","url":null,"abstract":"The photon-mediated conversion of CH4 and CO2 represents a green and sustainable route for producing transportation fuels and chemicals. Here we report an innovative, catalyst-free strategy for the conversion, by light, of CH4 and CO2 into CO/H2 and C2H6. High-energy photons with a wavelength of 185 nm were found to initiate the reaction, and the additional use of photons with different energies at longer wavelengths further improved the reaction efficiency. In particular, the combination of 185-nm and 200–1,100-nm photons enabled CO, H2 and C2H6 production rates of 3.1 mmol m−3 h−1, 1.93 mmol m−3 h−1 and 2.53 mmol m−3 h−1, respectively. Moderate addition of H2O was found to aid the reaction considerably. Moreover, a total gas conversion of 1.51% (24 h) was achieved in experiments simulating an oxygen-free environment. This work opens up a promising route for producing fuels and chemicals using CH4 and CO2 without the use of any catalysts, under ambient conditions. Catalyst-free conversion of methane and carbon dioxide using light of various wavelengths under ambient conditions is reported.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"63-70"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145705141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01813-y
David Pile
500,000 heat-related deaths occur each year, according to the World Health Organization. Passive and active photonic-based cooling strategies were discussed at a recent Sydney Radiative Cooling Workshop.
{"title":"Photonics based cooling outpaces policy","authors":"David Pile","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01813-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01813-y","url":null,"abstract":"500,000 heat-related deaths occur each year, according to the World Health Organization. Passive and active photonic-based cooling strategies were discussed at a recent Sydney Radiative Cooling Workshop.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1288-1290"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145652847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01804-z
Jonathan Ericson, Moran Bercovici
Structured light and photothermal conversion are used to create reconfigurable thermal barriers in a microfluidic device. These virtual barriers can be used to dynamically control fluid flow and microparticle trajectories.
结构光和光热转换用于在微流控装置中创建可重构的热障。这些虚拟屏障可用于动态控制流体流动和微粒轨迹。
{"title":"A light-actuated microfluidic playground","authors":"Jonathan Ericson, Moran Bercovici","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01804-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01804-z","url":null,"abstract":"Structured light and photothermal conversion are used to create reconfigurable thermal barriers in a microfluidic device. These virtual barriers can be used to dynamically control fluid flow and microparticle trajectories.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1282-1283"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145652846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01811-0
Philip Tinnefeld, Samrat Basak
Vitrification of polymer solutions yields ultrasmall fluorescent polymer dots that combine dye-like size with nanoparticle brightness, enabling nanometre-precision live-cell tracking on standard microscopes.
Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01798-8
Peter Hommelhoff
Shining intense laser pulses on an electron beam in an electron microscope corrects electron-optical spherical aberration, paving the way to using light to improve electron microscopy imaging.
{"title":"Improving electron microscopy with light","authors":"Peter Hommelhoff","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01798-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01798-8","url":null,"abstract":"Shining intense laser pulses on an electron beam in an electron microscope corrects electron-optical spherical aberration, paving the way to using light to improve electron microscopy imaging.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1277-1278"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145652848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01814-x
Emilien Peytavit
Simultaneous high-bandwidth and high-optoelectronic conversion efficiency in photodiodes is difficult to achieve. Now, researchers have demonstrated waveguide-integrated photodiodes with over 200 GHz bandwidth, 0.81 A/W responsivity and a bandwidth–efficiency product of 133.5 GHz, thus enabling amplifier-free 120 Gbps wireless transmission over 54 m.
{"title":"New photodiodes ready to bridge optical and sub-THz communications","authors":"Emilien Peytavit","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01814-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01814-x","url":null,"abstract":"Simultaneous high-bandwidth and high-optoelectronic conversion efficiency in photodiodes is difficult to achieve. Now, researchers have demonstrated waveguide-integrated photodiodes with over 200 GHz bandwidth, 0.81 A/W responsivity and a bandwidth–efficiency product of 133.5 GHz, thus enabling amplifier-free 120 Gbps wireless transmission over 54 m.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1279-1281"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145652845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","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/s41566-025-01780-4
Francesco Furlan, Michal Šámal, Jiří Rybáček, Andrea Taddeucci, Marta Di Girolamo, Davide Nodari, Giuliano Siligardi, Jessica Wade, Binghai Yan, Irena G. Stará, Nicola Gasparini, Matthew J. Fuchter
The photon spin information encoded in circularly polarized (CP) light is of high interest for current and future technologies, including low-power displays, encrypted communications and high-performance quantum applications. Engineering organic light-emitting diodes (LED) to emit oppositely handed electroluminescent CP light typically requires access to left- and right-handed chiral molecules. In conjugated polymer LEDs, the handedness of CP electroluminescence also depends on the active-layer thickness or direction of current flow. For a given active-layer thickness, it remains unknown whether a single-handed chiral material can emit CP light with opposite handedness in the same LED architecture. Here we demonstrate organic LEDs in which the handedness of the emitted CP electroluminescence can be controlled electrically, solely by using specific interlayers with no change in the emissive material composition or thickness. We reveal that this occurs due to a change in mechanism for the generation of CP electroluminescence, as a function of the recombination zone position within the device. This result provides a paradigm shift in the realization of organic CP-LEDs with controllable spin angular momentum information and further contributes to ongoing discussions relating the fundamental physics of chiral optoelectronics. Electrical tuning of the recombination zone in circularly polarized (CP) OLEDs enables switching the CP generation mechanism between normal and anomalous CP electroluminescence. This is exploited to electrically control the handedness of emitted CP light from the same device with the same enantiomer material.
{"title":"Electrical control of photon spin angular momentum in organic electroluminescent materials","authors":"Francesco Furlan, Michal Šámal, Jiří Rybáček, Andrea Taddeucci, Marta Di Girolamo, Davide Nodari, Giuliano Siligardi, Jessica Wade, Binghai Yan, Irena G. Stará, Nicola Gasparini, Matthew J. Fuchter","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01780-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01780-4","url":null,"abstract":"The photon spin information encoded in circularly polarized (CP) light is of high interest for current and future technologies, including low-power displays, encrypted communications and high-performance quantum applications. Engineering organic light-emitting diodes (LED) to emit oppositely handed electroluminescent CP light typically requires access to left- and right-handed chiral molecules. In conjugated polymer LEDs, the handedness of CP electroluminescence also depends on the active-layer thickness or direction of current flow. For a given active-layer thickness, it remains unknown whether a single-handed chiral material can emit CP light with opposite handedness in the same LED architecture. Here we demonstrate organic LEDs in which the handedness of the emitted CP electroluminescence can be controlled electrically, solely by using specific interlayers with no change in the emissive material composition or thickness. We reveal that this occurs due to a change in mechanism for the generation of CP electroluminescence, as a function of the recombination zone position within the device. This result provides a paradigm shift in the realization of organic CP-LEDs with controllable spin angular momentum information and further contributes to ongoing discussions relating the fundamental physics of chiral optoelectronics. Electrical tuning of the recombination zone in circularly polarized (CP) OLEDs enables switching the CP generation mechanism between normal and anomalous CP electroluminescence. This is exploited to electrically control the handedness of emitted CP light from the same device with the same enantiomer material.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1361-1366"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01780-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145599630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：