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}
Tensor processing is a cornerstone of many modern technological advancements, powering critical applications in data analytics and artificial intelligence. While optical computing offers exceptional advantages in bandwidth, parallelism and energy efficiency, existing methods optimized for scalar operations struggle to efficiently handle tensor-based tasks, limiting their applicability in complex applications, such as neural networks. Here we report parallel optical matrix–matrix multiplication (POMMM), which enables fully parallel tensor processing through a single coherent light propagation. This approach addresses key limitations of current optical methods, scaling the performance with data dimension, while improving theoretical computational power and efficiency. We demonstrate its high consistency with GPU-based matrix–matrix multiplication across both real-valued and complex-valued domains. Moreover, we showcase its adaptability, scalability and versatility in tensor processing applications such as convolutional and vision transformer neural networks. Furthermore, we analyse the theoretical compatibility and efficiency of POMMM in relation to existing optical computing paradigms, highlighting its potential to outperform current state-of-the-art methods. By enabling a variety of computational tasks and supporting multi-wavelength and large-scale expansion, POMMM provides a scalable, high-efficiency foundation for advancing next-generation optical computing. The researchers demonstrate parallel optical matrix–matrix multiplication, which enables fully parallel tensor processing through a single coherent light propagation. The approach provides a scalable, high-efficiency foundation for advancing next-generation optical computing.
{"title":"Direct tensor processing with coherent light","authors":"Yufeng Zhang, Xiaobing Liu, Chenguang Yang, Jinlong Xiang, Hao Yan, Tianjiao Fu, Kaizhi Wang, Yikai Su, Zhipei Sun, Xuhan Guo","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01799-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01799-7","url":null,"abstract":"Tensor processing is a cornerstone of many modern technological advancements, powering critical applications in data analytics and artificial intelligence. While optical computing offers exceptional advantages in bandwidth, parallelism and energy efficiency, existing methods optimized for scalar operations struggle to efficiently handle tensor-based tasks, limiting their applicability in complex applications, such as neural networks. Here we report parallel optical matrix–matrix multiplication (POMMM), which enables fully parallel tensor processing through a single coherent light propagation. This approach addresses key limitations of current optical methods, scaling the performance with data dimension, while improving theoretical computational power and efficiency. We demonstrate its high consistency with GPU-based matrix–matrix multiplication across both real-valued and complex-valued domains. Moreover, we showcase its adaptability, scalability and versatility in tensor processing applications such as convolutional and vision transformer neural networks. Furthermore, we analyse the theoretical compatibility and efficiency of POMMM in relation to existing optical computing paradigms, highlighting its potential to outperform current state-of-the-art methods. By enabling a variety of computational tasks and supporting multi-wavelength and large-scale expansion, POMMM provides a scalable, high-efficiency foundation for advancing next-generation optical computing. The researchers demonstrate parallel optical matrix–matrix multiplication, which enables fully parallel tensor processing through a single coherent light propagation. The approach provides a scalable, high-efficiency foundation for advancing next-generation optical computing.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"102-108"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01799-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145509074","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 : 2025-11-13DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01802-1
Valentina Utrio Lanfaloni, Federico Vismarra, Emir Ardali, Nicholas Monahan, Joss Wiese, Tristan Kopp, Fernando Ardana-Lamas, Giuseppe Fazio, Leonardo Redaelli, Yoann Pertot, Kristina Zinchenko, Tadas Balčiūnas, Hans Jakob Wörner
The demonstration of soliton self-compression in the terawatt-level regime using large-core hollow capillary fibres and long-wavelength driving pulses has opened new possibilities for tabletop ultrafast spectroscopy experiments. Here we report the creation of phase-stable sub-cycle self-compressed light transients, as well as their field- and phase-resolved optical field sampling. We demonstrate the direct in situ measurement of self-compressed light transients, reaching durations down to 2.5 ± 0.2 fs, which is half of an optical cycle at a centroid wavelength of 1,366 nm, and determine their waveform phase offset. We apply these transients to soft X-ray high-harmonic generation and attosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy at 250 eV demonstrates the utility of the sub-cycle light transients for experiments with ultimate temporal resolution. The advances reported in this work merge the deep sub-cycle temporal resolution offered by self-compressed, phase-characterized light transients and showcase their application for water-window attosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy, pushing the boundaries of achievable temporal resolution. Researchers demonstrate phase-stable sub-cycle self-compressed light transients, as well as their sampling down to half of an optical cycle, and determine their waveform phase offset. They apply the transients to soft X-ray high-harmonic generation and attosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy.
{"title":"Self-compressed waveform-stable light transients enabling water-window attosecond spectroscopy","authors":"Valentina Utrio Lanfaloni, Federico Vismarra, Emir Ardali, Nicholas Monahan, Joss Wiese, Tristan Kopp, Fernando Ardana-Lamas, Giuseppe Fazio, Leonardo Redaelli, Yoann Pertot, Kristina Zinchenko, Tadas Balčiūnas, Hans Jakob Wörner","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01802-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01802-1","url":null,"abstract":"The demonstration of soliton self-compression in the terawatt-level regime using large-core hollow capillary fibres and long-wavelength driving pulses has opened new possibilities for tabletop ultrafast spectroscopy experiments. Here we report the creation of phase-stable sub-cycle self-compressed light transients, as well as their field- and phase-resolved optical field sampling. We demonstrate the direct in situ measurement of self-compressed light transients, reaching durations down to 2.5 ± 0.2 fs, which is half of an optical cycle at a centroid wavelength of 1,366 nm, and determine their waveform phase offset. We apply these transients to soft X-ray high-harmonic generation and attosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy at 250 eV demonstrates the utility of the sub-cycle light transients for experiments with ultimate temporal resolution. The advances reported in this work merge the deep sub-cycle temporal resolution offered by self-compressed, phase-characterized light transients and showcase their application for water-window attosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy, pushing the boundaries of achievable temporal resolution. Researchers demonstrate phase-stable sub-cycle self-compressed light transients, as well as their sampling down to half of an optical cycle, and determine their waveform phase offset. They apply the transients to soft X-ray high-harmonic generation and attosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"79-86"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01802-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145498290","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}
Dark excitons in atomically thin van der Waals materials provide an exciting platform for information transport and nanophotonic applications. Although dark excitons are difficult to access through free-space radiation, hybrid heterostructures incorporating plasmonic nanocavities provide a powerful platform to tailor their interactions with photons. Here we design a heterostructure consisting of optimized plasmonic nanocubes coupled to a WSe2 monolayer encapsulated between thin hexagonal boron nitride layers to unveil a new family of dark excitons. The emission from these dark excitons is 2,700 times stronger than bright excitons, yielding a striking enhancement factor of 3 × 105. We demonstrate the spin-forbidden nature of these dark states by studying their magneto-optical response. Furthermore, we selectively activate them by controlling the Fermi level via electric doping. Prominent features of these dark excitons include narrow linewidths, long lifetime, efficient electrical and magnetic modulation. Our findings unlock the potential for exploring exciton physics in two-dimensional materials using photonic heterostructures that preserve the intrinsic optical properties of two-dimensional materials in the coupling process. The demonstrated on-site control and ease of integration with passive photonic components make this platform particularly compelling for nanophotonic and sensing applications. Observation and control of spin-forbidden dark excitons is demonstrated in a hybrid heterostructure of WSe2 monolayers and plasmonic nanocavities.
{"title":"On-site enhancement and control of spin-forbidden dark excitons in a plasmonic heterostructure","authors":"Jiamin Quan, Michele Cotrufo, Saroj Chand, Xuefeng Jiang, Zhida Liu, Enrique Mejia, Wei Wang, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Gabriele Grosso, Xiaoqin Li, Andrea Alù","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01788-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01788-w","url":null,"abstract":"Dark excitons in atomically thin van der Waals materials provide an exciting platform for information transport and nanophotonic applications. Although dark excitons are difficult to access through free-space radiation, hybrid heterostructures incorporating plasmonic nanocavities provide a powerful platform to tailor their interactions with photons. Here we design a heterostructure consisting of optimized plasmonic nanocubes coupled to a WSe2 monolayer encapsulated between thin hexagonal boron nitride layers to unveil a new family of dark excitons. The emission from these dark excitons is 2,700 times stronger than bright excitons, yielding a striking enhancement factor of 3 × 105. We demonstrate the spin-forbidden nature of these dark states by studying their magneto-optical response. Furthermore, we selectively activate them by controlling the Fermi level via electric doping. Prominent features of these dark excitons include narrow linewidths, long lifetime, efficient electrical and magnetic modulation. Our findings unlock the potential for exploring exciton physics in two-dimensional materials using photonic heterostructures that preserve the intrinsic optical properties of two-dimensional materials in the coupling process. The demonstrated on-site control and ease of integration with passive photonic components make this platform particularly compelling for nanophotonic and sensing applications. Observation and control of spin-forbidden dark excitons is demonstrated in a hybrid heterostructure of WSe2 monolayers and plasmonic nanocavities.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"49-54"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145492466","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 : 2025-11-11DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01787-x
Geunhee Gwak, Chan Roh, Young-Do Yoon, M. S. Kim, Young-Sik Ra
Complete characterization of a multimode optical process has paved the way for understanding complex optical phenomena, leading to the development of novel optical technologies. Until now, however, characterizations have mainly focused on linear optical processes, despite the importance of nonlinear optical processes for photonic technologies. Here we report the complete experimental characterization of multimode second-order nonlinear optical quantum processes—also known as bosonic Gaussian channels. Our resource-efficient characterization method, demonstrated on a 16-mode quantum process, captures the full information of non-unitary quantum evolution and satisfies the required physical condition. This complete characterization enables the identification of eigenquadratures and their associated amplification and noise properties. Moreover, we demonstrate the broad applicability of our method by characterizing various nonlinear optical quantum processes, including cluster-state generation, mode-dependent loss with nonlinear interaction and a quantum noise channel. Our method, by providing a versatile and efficient technique for characterizing a nonlinear optical process, will be beneficial for developing scalable photonic technologies. A resource-efficient characterization method to completely characterize multimode second-order nonlinear optical quantum processes is demonstrated, satisfying the required physical condition. Scaling quadratically with the mode number, it enables complete 16-mode analysis.
{"title":"Completely characterizing multimode second-order nonlinear optical quantum processes","authors":"Geunhee Gwak, Chan Roh, Young-Do Yoon, M. S. Kim, Young-Sik Ra","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01787-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01787-x","url":null,"abstract":"Complete characterization of a multimode optical process has paved the way for understanding complex optical phenomena, leading to the development of novel optical technologies. Until now, however, characterizations have mainly focused on linear optical processes, despite the importance of nonlinear optical processes for photonic technologies. Here we report the complete experimental characterization of multimode second-order nonlinear optical quantum processes—also known as bosonic Gaussian channels. Our resource-efficient characterization method, demonstrated on a 16-mode quantum process, captures the full information of non-unitary quantum evolution and satisfies the required physical condition. This complete characterization enables the identification of eigenquadratures and their associated amplification and noise properties. Moreover, we demonstrate the broad applicability of our method by characterizing various nonlinear optical quantum processes, including cluster-state generation, mode-dependent loss with nonlinear interaction and a quantum noise channel. Our method, by providing a versatile and efficient technique for characterizing a nonlinear optical process, will be beneficial for developing scalable photonic technologies. A resource-efficient characterization method to completely characterize multimode second-order nonlinear optical quantum processes is demonstrated, satisfying the required physical condition. Scaling quadratically with the mode number, it enables complete 16-mode analysis.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 2","pages":"156-162"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145485442","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}
Organic light-emitting transistors integrate the switching ability of a transistor with the emissive property of an organic light-emitting diode. Among them, organic field-effect light-emitting transistors (OFE-LETs) have recently gained increasing attention due to their simplified device structure, low leakage current and ease of integration. However, OFE-LETs often suffer from unbalanced electron and hole transport, leading to a low radiative recombination efficiency in the emissive layer and low device efficiency. Here we present a promising device architecture in which the functions of charge-carrier transport and light emission are spatially separated, enabling precise exciton management. The use of carbazole/oxadiazole hybrid molecules coupled with a strong electron-withdrawing cyano moiety results in balanced charge-carrier transport, creating a broad exciton recombination zone and enhancing the radiative recombination efficiency. Accordingly, red, green and blue OFE-LETs achieve peak external quantum efficiencies of 18.4, 21.2 and 14.4%, and current efficiencies of 26.9, 78.0 and 31.7 cd A−1, respectively. These values rank among the highest for organic light-emitting transistors so far. Furthermore, the patterned OFE-LET arrays with an aperture ratio of over 60% and pixel circuits that exhibit only 5.6% parasitic power dissipation demonstrate promising potential for low-power-consumption display technologies. Red, green and blue organic field-effect light-emitting transistors in which charge-carrier transport and light emission are spatially separated to improve exciton management and device efficiency are reported.
{"title":"Exciton management and balanced charge-carrier transport enable efficient organic field-effect light-emitting transistors","authors":"Donghai Li, Yuchen Hou, Jian Wang, Shen Xing, Zihong Shen, Yeting Tao, Yuan Liu, Wenbo Yuan, Xiaowang Liu, Weidong Xu, Xiangchun Li, Karl Leo, Zhongbin Wu, Youtian Tao, Wei Huang","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01793-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01793-z","url":null,"abstract":"Organic light-emitting transistors integrate the switching ability of a transistor with the emissive property of an organic light-emitting diode. Among them, organic field-effect light-emitting transistors (OFE-LETs) have recently gained increasing attention due to their simplified device structure, low leakage current and ease of integration. However, OFE-LETs often suffer from unbalanced electron and hole transport, leading to a low radiative recombination efficiency in the emissive layer and low device efficiency. Here we present a promising device architecture in which the functions of charge-carrier transport and light emission are spatially separated, enabling precise exciton management. The use of carbazole/oxadiazole hybrid molecules coupled with a strong electron-withdrawing cyano moiety results in balanced charge-carrier transport, creating a broad exciton recombination zone and enhancing the radiative recombination efficiency. Accordingly, red, green and blue OFE-LETs achieve peak external quantum efficiencies of 18.4, 21.2 and 14.4%, and current efficiencies of 26.9, 78.0 and 31.7 cd A−1, respectively. These values rank among the highest for organic light-emitting transistors so far. Furthermore, the patterned OFE-LET arrays with an aperture ratio of over 60% and pixel circuits that exhibit only 5.6% parasitic power dissipation demonstrate promising potential for low-power-consumption display technologies. Red, green and blue organic field-effect light-emitting transistors in which charge-carrier transport and light emission are spatially separated to improve exciton management and device efficiency are reported.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"109-118"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145477787","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}
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