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}
Pub Date : 2025-11-26DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01806-x
Natalia Herrera Valencia, Annameng Ma, Suraj Goel, Saroch Leedumrongwatthanakun, Francesco Graffitti, Alessandro Fedrizzi, Will McCutcheon, Mehul Malik
The distribution of entanglement in quantum networks will enable the next generation of technologies in quantum-secured communications, distributed quantum computing and sensing. Future quantum networks will require dense connectivity, allowing multiple users to share entanglement in a reconfigurable and multiplexed manner, while long-distance connections are established through the teleportation of entanglement, or entanglement swapping. Although several recent works have demonstrated fully connected, local multi-user networks based on multiplexing, extending such networks to a global network architecture of interconnected local networks remains an outstanding challenge. Here we demonstrate the next step in the evolution of multiplexed quantum networks—a prototype global reconfigurable network in which entanglement is routed and teleported in a flexible and multiplexed manner between two local four-user networks. At the heart of our network is a programmable 8 × 8-dimensional multi-port circuit that harnesses the natural mode-mixing process inside of a multi-mode fibre to implement on-demand high-dimensional operations on two independent photons carrying eight transverse-spatial modes. Our circuit design allows us to break away from the limited planar geometry and bypass the control and fabrication challenges of conventional integrated photonic platforms. Our demonstration highlights the potential of this architecture for enabling large-scale, global quantum networks that offer versatile connectivity while being fully compatible with an existing communications infrastructure. A reconfigurable eight-user photonic network is realized by connecting two local four-user networks through a programmable 8 × 8-dimensional multi-port device. Multiplexed routing and swapping of qubit entanglement are demonstrated for all network configurations and channels.
{"title":"A large-scale reconfigurable multiplexed quantum photonic network","authors":"Natalia Herrera Valencia, Annameng Ma, Suraj Goel, Saroch Leedumrongwatthanakun, Francesco Graffitti, Alessandro Fedrizzi, Will McCutcheon, Mehul Malik","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01806-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01806-x","url":null,"abstract":"The distribution of entanglement in quantum networks will enable the next generation of technologies in quantum-secured communications, distributed quantum computing and sensing. Future quantum networks will require dense connectivity, allowing multiple users to share entanglement in a reconfigurable and multiplexed manner, while long-distance connections are established through the teleportation of entanglement, or entanglement swapping. Although several recent works have demonstrated fully connected, local multi-user networks based on multiplexing, extending such networks to a global network architecture of interconnected local networks remains an outstanding challenge. Here we demonstrate the next step in the evolution of multiplexed quantum networks—a prototype global reconfigurable network in which entanglement is routed and teleported in a flexible and multiplexed manner between two local four-user networks. At the heart of our network is a programmable 8 × 8-dimensional multi-port circuit that harnesses the natural mode-mixing process inside of a multi-mode fibre to implement on-demand high-dimensional operations on two independent photons carrying eight transverse-spatial modes. Our circuit design allows us to break away from the limited planar geometry and bypass the control and fabrication challenges of conventional integrated photonic platforms. Our demonstration highlights the potential of this architecture for enabling large-scale, global quantum networks that offer versatile connectivity while being fully compatible with an existing communications infrastructure. A reconfigurable eight-user photonic network is realized by connecting two local four-user networks through a programmable 8 × 8-dimensional multi-port device. Multiplexed routing and swapping of qubit entanglement are demonstrated for all network configurations and channels.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 2","pages":"202-207"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01806-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145599629","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 commercialization of perovskite photovoltaics faces significant hurdles due to device degradation under environmental stressors, such as illumination, humidity and heat, which represents a core challenge for industrial applications. Here we present a conformational engineering strategy targeting the buried interface of perovskite solar cells and based on the structural evolution of additives—from 1,1-diphenylethylene to 1-octyl-2-(1-phenylvinyl)benzene and diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate. We decouple the contributions of the additives, including ultraviolet shielding, strain regulation and chemical passivation. In conjunction with in situ characterization, we reveal that dynamic interfacial strain regulation plays a major role in improving device stability during light–dark cycling. Our devices achieve power conversion efficiencies of 26.47% and 22.67%, for active areas of 0.09 cm2 and 20.5 cm2, respectively. Under maximum power point tracking, small-area devices maintain 96.2% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 1,132 h of testing in ISOS-L-1I (continuous illumination) and 88.8% after 348 h in ISOS-LC-1 (12-h day–night cycling). This research establishes an innovative design paradigm for stable and efficient perovskite solar cells through a multifunctional strategy driven by conformational engineering. The additive molecule DHHB enables UV shielding, chemical passivation and strain regulation at the buried interface of perovskite solar cells. Small-area devices achieve a power conversion efficiency of 26.47%, 96% of which is maintained after 1,132 h of continuous operation.
{"title":"In situ dynamic regulation of strain at the buried interface of stable perovskite solar cells","authors":"Jiakang Zhang, Wenjian Yan, Zhipeng Li, Haokun Jiang, Cheng Peng, Mengjiao Lan, He Sun, Jinxian Yang, Yanbo Wang, Chongwen Li, Shuping Pang, Zhongmin Zhou","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01808-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01808-9","url":null,"abstract":"The commercialization of perovskite photovoltaics faces significant hurdles due to device degradation under environmental stressors, such as illumination, humidity and heat, which represents a core challenge for industrial applications. Here we present a conformational engineering strategy targeting the buried interface of perovskite solar cells and based on the structural evolution of additives—from 1,1-diphenylethylene to 1-octyl-2-(1-phenylvinyl)benzene and diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate. We decouple the contributions of the additives, including ultraviolet shielding, strain regulation and chemical passivation. In conjunction with in situ characterization, we reveal that dynamic interfacial strain regulation plays a major role in improving device stability during light–dark cycling. Our devices achieve power conversion efficiencies of 26.47% and 22.67%, for active areas of 0.09 cm2 and 20.5 cm2, respectively. Under maximum power point tracking, small-area devices maintain 96.2% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 1,132 h of testing in ISOS-L-1I (continuous illumination) and 88.8% after 348 h in ISOS-LC-1 (12-h day–night cycling). This research establishes an innovative design paradigm for stable and efficient perovskite solar cells through a multifunctional strategy driven by conformational engineering. The additive molecule DHHB enables UV shielding, chemical passivation and strain regulation at the buried interface of perovskite solar cells. Small-area devices achieve a power conversion efficiency of 26.47%, 96% of which is maintained after 1,132 h of continuous operation.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"119-127"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145583077","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 : 2025-11-24DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01797-9
Yuping Gao, Hang Liu, Zonglong Song, Yu Chen, Liu Yang, Ziyang Hu, Yu Zou, Yongsheng Chen, Yongsheng Liu
Achieving uniform crystallization across both top and buried interfaces in perovskite films is crucial for unlocking their full photovoltaic potential, yet remains an unresolved challenge. The buried interface, in particular, suffers from poor crystallization relative to the top surface, resulting in suboptimal crystal quality and increased defect densities. Here we propose a one-step strategy to induce the spontaneous formation of near-phase-pure two-dimensional perovskites at the buried interface via the introduction of organic cation halide salts in the perovskite precursor solution. Single-crystal structure analysis highlights the pivotal role of molecular engineering in facilitating the spontaneous formation of buried two-dimensional perovskite phases. The low dipole moments and planar rigidity structures of organic spacers promote their aggregation at perovskite grain boundaries, followed by their migration to the film’s bottom interface. The two-dimensional perovskite layer simultaneously promotes uniform crystallization and efficient defect passivation at the buried interface, leading to a power conversion efficiency of 26.31% (certified 26.02%). Unencapsulated devices retain 95% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 1,000 hours of continuous illumination. Formation of a near-phase-pure two-dimensional perovskite at the buried interface of perovskite solar cells enables improved crystallization and defect passivation, resulting in devices with a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.02%. Ninety-five per cent of the initial PCE is maintained after 1,000 hours of operation.
{"title":"Spontaneous 2D perovskite formation at the buried interface of perovskite solar cells enhances crystallization uniformity and defect passivation","authors":"Yuping Gao, Hang Liu, Zonglong Song, Yu Chen, Liu Yang, Ziyang Hu, Yu Zou, Yongsheng Chen, Yongsheng Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01797-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01797-9","url":null,"abstract":"Achieving uniform crystallization across both top and buried interfaces in perovskite films is crucial for unlocking their full photovoltaic potential, yet remains an unresolved challenge. The buried interface, in particular, suffers from poor crystallization relative to the top surface, resulting in suboptimal crystal quality and increased defect densities. Here we propose a one-step strategy to induce the spontaneous formation of near-phase-pure two-dimensional perovskites at the buried interface via the introduction of organic cation halide salts in the perovskite precursor solution. Single-crystal structure analysis highlights the pivotal role of molecular engineering in facilitating the spontaneous formation of buried two-dimensional perovskite phases. The low dipole moments and planar rigidity structures of organic spacers promote their aggregation at perovskite grain boundaries, followed by their migration to the film’s bottom interface. The two-dimensional perovskite layer simultaneously promotes uniform crystallization and efficient defect passivation at the buried interface, leading to a power conversion efficiency of 26.31% (certified 26.02%). Unencapsulated devices retain 95% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 1,000 hours of continuous illumination. Formation of a near-phase-pure two-dimensional perovskite at the buried interface of perovskite solar cells enables improved crystallization and defect passivation, resulting in devices with a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.02%. Ninety-five per cent of the initial PCE is maintained after 1,000 hours of operation.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 2","pages":"178-185"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145583076","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 : 2025-11-21DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01795-x
Andrew Forbes, Fazilah Nothlawala, Adam Vallés
Photons can be structured in space and time, blending quantum information and structured light in the context of high-dimensional and multidimensional entanglement. This opens a pathway to richly textured Hilbert spaces, high-information-capacity photons and exciting applications that exploit the new multiple-degrees-of-freedom modalities of quantum structured light. Progress has accelerated of late, driven by a modern toolkit comprising both bulk and on-chip solutions, taming dimensionality and unlocking exciting applications from imaging and sensing to networks and communication. In this Review we aim to capture this exciting inflection point, where quantum structured light can finally be harnessed to realize its full potential. This Review provides an overview of the progress in quantum structured light, both as single and entangled photon states, with an emphasis on prospective applications in quantum information science such as quantum communication and quantum imaging.
{"title":"Progress in quantum structured light","authors":"Andrew Forbes, Fazilah Nothlawala, Adam Vallés","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01795-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01795-x","url":null,"abstract":"Photons can be structured in space and time, blending quantum information and structured light in the context of high-dimensional and multidimensional entanglement. This opens a pathway to richly textured Hilbert spaces, high-information-capacity photons and exciting applications that exploit the new multiple-degrees-of-freedom modalities of quantum structured light. Progress has accelerated of late, driven by a modern toolkit comprising both bulk and on-chip solutions, taming dimensionality and unlocking exciting applications from imaging and sensing to networks and communication. In this Review we aim to capture this exciting inflection point, where quantum structured light can finally be harnessed to realize its full potential. This Review provides an overview of the progress in quantum structured light, both as single and entangled photon states, with an emphasis on prospective applications in quantum information science such as quantum communication and quantum imaging.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1291-1300"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145560298","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 : 2025-11-19DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01805-y
Angana Mondal, Ofer Neufeld, Tadas Balčiūnas, Benedikt Waser, Serge Müller, Mariana Rossi, Zhong Yin, Angel Rubio, Nicolas Tancogne-Dejean, Hans Jakob Wörner
Non-perturbative high-harmonic generation has recently been observed in the liquid phase, and the underlying mechanism was shown to be different from that in gases and solids. Liquid-phase high-harmonic generation is currently understood in terms of a recollision mechanism with electron trajectories limited by electron scattering. The cut-off energy and its independence of the driving laser parameters are reproduced by this mechanism. However, when the driving laser intensity is increased, no extension of the cut-off energy is observed, which contrasts with the general expectations from most nonlinear media. Here we observe the appearance of a second plateau in high-harmonic generation from multiple liquids (water, heavy water, propanol and ethanol) and explore its origin. From the combined analysis of experimental, computational and theoretical results, we find that electrons recombining at neighbouring molecular sites instead of the ionization site are responsible and verify this feature through the characteristic dependence of the second-plateau yield on the ellipticity of the driving field. We find that the second plateau is dominated by electrons recombining at the first or second solvation shell, relying on hole delocalization. Theoretical results predict the appearance of yet higher plateaus, indicating a general trend. Our work establishes a previously unexplored physical phenomenon in the highly nonlinear optical response of liquid. The second plateau in high-harmonic generation from liquids is due to off-site recombination of electrons, facilitated by the spatial delocalization of electron–hole wavefunctions.
{"title":"Multi-plateau high-harmonic generation in liquids driven by off-site recombination","authors":"Angana Mondal, Ofer Neufeld, Tadas Balčiūnas, Benedikt Waser, Serge Müller, Mariana Rossi, Zhong Yin, Angel Rubio, Nicolas Tancogne-Dejean, Hans Jakob Wörner","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01805-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01805-y","url":null,"abstract":"Non-perturbative high-harmonic generation has recently been observed in the liquid phase, and the underlying mechanism was shown to be different from that in gases and solids. Liquid-phase high-harmonic generation is currently understood in terms of a recollision mechanism with electron trajectories limited by electron scattering. The cut-off energy and its independence of the driving laser parameters are reproduced by this mechanism. However, when the driving laser intensity is increased, no extension of the cut-off energy is observed, which contrasts with the general expectations from most nonlinear media. Here we observe the appearance of a second plateau in high-harmonic generation from multiple liquids (water, heavy water, propanol and ethanol) and explore its origin. From the combined analysis of experimental, computational and theoretical results, we find that electrons recombining at neighbouring molecular sites instead of the ionization site are responsible and verify this feature through the characteristic dependence of the second-plateau yield on the ellipticity of the driving field. We find that the second plateau is dominated by electrons recombining at the first or second solvation shell, relying on hole delocalization. Theoretical results predict the appearance of yet higher plateaus, indicating a general trend. Our work establishes a previously unexplored physical phenomenon in the highly nonlinear optical response of liquid. The second plateau in high-harmonic generation from liquids is due to off-site recombination of electrons, facilitated by the spatial delocalization of electron–hole wavefunctions.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 2","pages":"216-224"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01805-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145545496","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}
Pub Date : 2025-11-14DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01801-2
Florentine Friedrich, Paul Herrmann, Shridhar Sanjay Shanbhag, Sebastian Klimmer, Jan Wilhelm, Giancarlo Soavi
Time-reversal and space-inversion symmetries are fundamental properties of crystals and play a role in underlying phenomena such as magnetism, topology and non-trivial spin textures. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) represent an excellent tunable model system to explore the interplay between these symmetries as they can be engineered on demand by tuning the number of layers and via all-optical bandgap modulation. In this work, we modulate and study time-reversal symmetry in mono- and bilayer TMDs with all-optical methods using third-harmonic Faraday rotation. We excite the samples using elliptically polarized light, achieve spin-selective bandgap modulation and consequent breaking of time-reversal symmetry. The reduced symmetry modifies the nonlinear susceptibility tensor, causing a rotation of the emitted third-harmonic polarization. With this method, we probe broken time-reversal symmetry in both non-centrosymmetric (monolayer) and centrosymmetric (bilayer) WS2 crystals. Furthermore, we discuss how the detected third-harmonic rotation angle directly links to spin-valley locking in monolayer TMDs and spin-valley-layer locking in bilayer TMDs. Our results show a powerful approach to study broken time-reversal symmetry in crystals regardless of space-inversion symmetry, and shed light on the spin, valley and layer coupling of atomically thin semiconductors. An all-optical method involving third-harmonic Faraday rotation is used to probe the breaking of time-reversal symmetry in mono- and bilayer transition metal dichalcogenide WS2.
{"title":"Measurement of optically induced broken time-reversal symmetry in atomically thin crystals","authors":"Florentine Friedrich, Paul Herrmann, Shridhar Sanjay Shanbhag, Sebastian Klimmer, Jan Wilhelm, Giancarlo Soavi","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01801-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01801-2","url":null,"abstract":"Time-reversal and space-inversion symmetries are fundamental properties of crystals and play a role in underlying phenomena such as magnetism, topology and non-trivial spin textures. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) represent an excellent tunable model system to explore the interplay between these symmetries as they can be engineered on demand by tuning the number of layers and via all-optical bandgap modulation. In this work, we modulate and study time-reversal symmetry in mono- and bilayer TMDs with all-optical methods using third-harmonic Faraday rotation. We excite the samples using elliptically polarized light, achieve spin-selective bandgap modulation and consequent breaking of time-reversal symmetry. The reduced symmetry modifies the nonlinear susceptibility tensor, causing a rotation of the emitted third-harmonic polarization. With this method, we probe broken time-reversal symmetry in both non-centrosymmetric (monolayer) and centrosymmetric (bilayer) WS2 crystals. Furthermore, we discuss how the detected third-harmonic rotation angle directly links to spin-valley locking in monolayer TMDs and spin-valley-layer locking in bilayer TMDs. Our results show a powerful approach to study broken time-reversal symmetry in crystals regardless of space-inversion symmetry, and shed light on the spin, valley and layer coupling of atomically thin semiconductors. An all-optical method involving third-harmonic Faraday rotation is used to probe the breaking of time-reversal symmetry in mono- and bilayer transition metal dichalcogenide WS2.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 2","pages":"186-193"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01801-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145509013","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}
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