Pub Date : 2025-10-27DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01779-x
An Aloysius Wang, Yifei Ma, Yunqi Zhang, Zimo Zhao, Yuxi Cai, Xuke Qiu, Bowei Dong, Chao He
The decline of Moore’s law coupled with the rise of artificial intelligence has recently motivated research into photonic computing as a high-bandwidth, low-power strategy to accelerate digital electronics. However, many modern-day photonic computing strategies are analogue, making them susceptible to noise and intrinsically difficult to scale. Optical skyrmions offer a route to overcome these limitations through digitization in the form of a discrete topological number that can be assigned to the analogue optical field. Apart from an intrinsic robustness against perturbations, optical skyrmions represent a new medium that has yet to be fully exploited for photonic computing, namely, spatially varying polarization. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a method for performing perturbation-resilient integer arithmetic with optical skyrmions and passive optical components, achieving discrete mathematical operations directly using optical skyrmions without external energy input. Optical skyrmions offer new opportunities for noise-resistant mathematical operations using light.
{"title":"Perturbation-resilient integer arithmetic using optical skyrmions","authors":"An Aloysius Wang, Yifei Ma, Yunqi Zhang, Zimo Zhao, Yuxi Cai, Xuke Qiu, Bowei Dong, Chao He","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01779-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01779-x","url":null,"abstract":"The decline of Moore’s law coupled with the rise of artificial intelligence has recently motivated research into photonic computing as a high-bandwidth, low-power strategy to accelerate digital electronics. However, many modern-day photonic computing strategies are analogue, making them susceptible to noise and intrinsically difficult to scale. Optical skyrmions offer a route to overcome these limitations through digitization in the form of a discrete topological number that can be assigned to the analogue optical field. Apart from an intrinsic robustness against perturbations, optical skyrmions represent a new medium that has yet to be fully exploited for photonic computing, namely, spatially varying polarization. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a method for performing perturbation-resilient integer arithmetic with optical skyrmions and passive optical components, achieving discrete mathematical operations directly using optical skyrmions without external energy input. Optical skyrmions offer new opportunities for noise-resistant mathematical operations using light.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1367-1375"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01779-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382438","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 : 2025-10-24DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01783-1
Jesse A. Wisch, Kelvin A. Green, Amélie C. Lemay, Yiling Q. Li, Tersoo Upaa Jr, Evgeny O. Danilov, Hui Taou Kok, Seamus S. Lowe, Felix N. Castellano, Barry P. Rand
Triplet fusion upconversion has potential applications in solar cells, photoredox catalysis, additive manufacturing and bioimaging. However, solid-state upconversion systems have struggled to measure up to their solution-phase counterparts, often requiring enormous optical power densities to operate at the maximum efficiency. Here we substantially improve the performance of upconversion films through excitation with surface plasmons that propagate along a planar silver-film interface, leading to an absorption enhancement that reduces the intensity threshold Ith by a factor of 19 and enhances the external quantum efficiency by a factor of 17. From this, we achieve Ith values as low as 3.4 mW cm−2 and an external quantum efficiency up to 0.094%. To demonstrate real-world viability, we couple the upconversion film to plasmons generated by the near-field of excitons in an organic light-emitting diode. This scheme is then used to fabricate a white-emitting organic light-emitting diode where blue emission sources from plasmon-excited upconversion, achieving a high colour rendering index of 86.2 and setting precedent for blue emission in the absence of high-energy polarons or triplets. Performance of solid-state triplet fusion upconversion films is enhanced by surface plasmons, intensity threshold is reduced by a factor of 17 and external quantum efficiency is enhanced by a factor of 19. A white-emitting organic light-emitting diode featuring upconverted blue emission—rather than blue electroluminescence—is demonstrated, with a colour rendering index of up to 86.2.
{"title":"Plasmon-enhanced ultralow-threshold solid-state triplet fusion upconversion","authors":"Jesse A. Wisch, Kelvin A. Green, Amélie C. Lemay, Yiling Q. Li, Tersoo Upaa Jr, Evgeny O. Danilov, Hui Taou Kok, Seamus S. Lowe, Felix N. Castellano, Barry P. Rand","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01783-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01783-1","url":null,"abstract":"Triplet fusion upconversion has potential applications in solar cells, photoredox catalysis, additive manufacturing and bioimaging. However, solid-state upconversion systems have struggled to measure up to their solution-phase counterparts, often requiring enormous optical power densities to operate at the maximum efficiency. Here we substantially improve the performance of upconversion films through excitation with surface plasmons that propagate along a planar silver-film interface, leading to an absorption enhancement that reduces the intensity threshold Ith by a factor of 19 and enhances the external quantum efficiency by a factor of 17. From this, we achieve Ith values as low as 3.4 mW cm−2 and an external quantum efficiency up to 0.094%. To demonstrate real-world viability, we couple the upconversion film to plasmons generated by the near-field of excitons in an organic light-emitting diode. This scheme is then used to fabricate a white-emitting organic light-emitting diode where blue emission sources from plasmon-excited upconversion, achieving a high colour rendering index of 86.2 and setting precedent for blue emission in the absence of high-energy polarons or triplets. Performance of solid-state triplet fusion upconversion films is enhanced by surface plasmons, intensity threshold is reduced by a factor of 17 and external quantum efficiency is enhanced by a factor of 19. A white-emitting organic light-emitting diode featuring upconverted blue emission—rather than blue electroluminescence—is demonstrated, with a colour rendering index of up to 86.2.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"24-30"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382082","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}
Thermal evaporation is a well-established technique in thin-film manufacturing and holds great promise for the scalable fabrication of perovskite solar cells. However, the performance of fully thermally evaporated perovskite solar cells lags behind that of solution-processed counterparts. Here we report a reverse layer-by-layer deposition strategy to control the diffusion of solid-phase precursor, whereby the organic formamidinium iodide is deposited before the inorganic precursors (CsI/PbCl2/PbI2). Subsequent annealing leads to enhanced interfacial contact, efficient charge extraction and top-down perovskite crystallization with enhanced vertical uniformity. We fabricate fully thermally evaporated inverted perovskite solar cells with power conversion efficiencies of 25.19% (for an active area of 0.066 cm2) and 23.38% (1 cm2 area). Unencapsulated devices retain 95.2% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 1,000 h of continuous operation at the maximum power point. A layer-by-layer thermal evaporation strategy enables thermally evaporated inverted perovskite solar cells with a power conversion efficiency of 25.19%, maintaining about 95% of their initial efficiency after 1,000 h of operation.
{"title":"Fully thermally evaporated perovskite solar cells based on reverse layer-by-layer deposition","authors":"Yutian Xu, Kui Xu, Tengfei Pan, Xinwu Ke, Yajing Li, Na Meng, Xiaorong Shi, Junhao Liu, Yuanhao Cui, Ziqiang Wang, Xue Min, Yifan Lv, Lingfeng Chao, Zhelu Hu, Qingxun Guo, Yingdong Xia, Yonghua Chen, Wei Huang","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01768-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01768-0","url":null,"abstract":"Thermal evaporation is a well-established technique in thin-film manufacturing and holds great promise for the scalable fabrication of perovskite solar cells. However, the performance of fully thermally evaporated perovskite solar cells lags behind that of solution-processed counterparts. Here we report a reverse layer-by-layer deposition strategy to control the diffusion of solid-phase precursor, whereby the organic formamidinium iodide is deposited before the inorganic precursors (CsI/PbCl2/PbI2). Subsequent annealing leads to enhanced interfacial contact, efficient charge extraction and top-down perovskite crystallization with enhanced vertical uniformity. We fabricate fully thermally evaporated inverted perovskite solar cells with power conversion efficiencies of 25.19% (for an active area of 0.066 cm2) and 23.38% (1 cm2 area). Unencapsulated devices retain 95.2% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 1,000 h of continuous operation at the maximum power point. A layer-by-layer thermal evaporation strategy enables thermally evaporated inverted perovskite solar cells with a power conversion efficiency of 25.19%, maintaining about 95% of their initial efficiency after 1,000 h of operation.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1345-1352"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382067","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}
High-power, continuously tunable narrowband terahertz (THz) sources are essential for advancing nonlinear optics, THz-driven material dynamics and ultrafast spectroscopy. Conventional techniques typically impose a trade-off between pulse energy and frequency tunability. Here we demonstrate a novel free-electron laser approach that overcomes these limitations by premodulating a relativistic electron beam with a frequency-beating laser pulse and leveraging bunch compression along with collective effects to enhance microbunching. Experimental results demonstrate that this technique generates narrowband THz emission with continuous frequency tunability from 7.8 to 30.8 THz, achieving pulse energies up to 385 $$upmu {rm{J}}$$ and maintaining spectral bandwidths between 7.7% and 14.7%. Moreover, the method exhibits exceptional robustness and scalability, highlighting its unique ability to bridge the long-standing THz gap and offering a promising solution for diverse cutting-edge scientific applications. High-power, tunable accelerator-based terahertz radiation is demonstrated. By electron-beam manipulation through laser heater beating, tunable capability from 7.8 to 30.8 THz, narrow spectral bandwidths (ranging from 7.7% to 14.7%) and pulse energies up to 385 μJ are obtained.
高功率、连续可调谐的窄带太赫兹（THz）源对于推进非线性光学、太赫兹驱动的材料动力学和超快光谱学至关重要。传统技术通常在脉冲能量和频率可调性之间进行权衡。在这里，我们展示了一种新的自由电子激光方法，通过用频率跳动的激光脉冲预调制相对论电子束，并利用束压缩和集体效应来增强微束，从而克服了这些限制。实验结果表明，该技术产生的窄带太赫兹发射具有7.8 ～ 30.8太赫兹的连续频率可调性，脉冲能量高达385 $$upmu {rm{J}}$$，频谱带宽保持在7.7之间% and 14.7%. Moreover, the method exhibits exceptional robustness and scalability, highlighting its unique ability to bridge the long-standing THz gap and offering a promising solution for diverse cutting-edge scientific applications. High-power, tunable accelerator-based terahertz radiation is demonstrated. By electron-beam manipulation through laser heater beating, tunable capability from 7.8 to 30.8 THz, narrow spectral bandwidths (ranging from 7.7% to 14.7%) and pulse energies up to 385 μJ are obtained.
{"title":"Continuous terahertz band coverage through precise electron-beam tailoring in free-electron lasers","authors":"Yin Kang, Tong Li, Zhen Wang, Yue Wang, Cheng Yu, Weiyi Yin, Zhangfeng Gao, Hanghua Xu, Hang Luo, Xiaofan Wang, Jian Chen, Taihe Lan, Xiaoqing Liu, Jinguo Wang, Huan Zhao, Fei Gao, Liping Sun, YanYan Zhu, Yongmei Wen, Qili Tian, Chenye Xu, Xingtao Wang, Jiaqiang Xu, Zheng Qi, Tao Liu, Bin Li, Lixin Yan, Kaiqing Zhang, Chao Feng, Bo Liu, Zhentang Zhao","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01775-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01775-1","url":null,"abstract":"High-power, continuously tunable narrowband terahertz (THz) sources are essential for advancing nonlinear optics, THz-driven material dynamics and ultrafast spectroscopy. Conventional techniques typically impose a trade-off between pulse energy and frequency tunability. Here we demonstrate a novel free-electron laser approach that overcomes these limitations by premodulating a relativistic electron beam with a frequency-beating laser pulse and leveraging bunch compression along with collective effects to enhance microbunching. Experimental results demonstrate that this technique generates narrowband THz emission with continuous frequency tunability from 7.8 to 30.8 THz, achieving pulse energies up to 385 $$upmu {rm{J}}$$ and maintaining spectral bandwidths between 7.7% and 14.7%. Moreover, the method exhibits exceptional robustness and scalability, highlighting its unique ability to bridge the long-standing THz gap and offering a promising solution for diverse cutting-edge scientific applications. High-power, tunable accelerator-based terahertz radiation is demonstrated. By electron-beam manipulation through laser heater beating, tunable capability from 7.8 to 30.8 THz, narrow spectral bandwidths (ranging from 7.7% to 14.7%) and pulse energies up to 385 μJ are obtained.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"96-101"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382071","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}
Buried defects at the interface between the wide-bandgap perovskite and the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) limit the performance of p–i–n solar cells, particularly in textured monolithic perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells. Here we reveal that uncontrolled perovskite crystallization dynamics on conventional SAMs drives the co-evolution of electronic defects and morphological degradation at the buried interface. This stems from structural and energetic incompatibility between the perovskite precursor solution and the SAM. To precisely control the perovskite crystallization, we develop a tailored SAM that mitigates defect formation and enhances interfacial electronic coupling. Integrated into a perovskite–silicon tandem solar cell, this approach enables a power conversion efficiency of 33.86% (certified as 33.59%) for a device with a 1-cm2 area and a power conversion efficiency of 29.25% (certified as 28.53%) for an area of 16 cm2. The tandem device demonstrates remarkable operational stability, retaining more than 90% of the initial power conversion efficiency after 2,000 h of operational under 1-sun illumination. An engineered self-assembled monolayer improves perovskite crystallization, enabling perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells with a certified power conversion efficiency of 33.59%, 90% of which is maintained after 2,000 h of operation at ambient temperature.
{"title":"Perovskite crystallization control via an engineered self-assembled monolayer in perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells","authors":"Daoyong Zhang, Boning Yan, Rui Xia, Biao Li, Ruilin Li, Pengjie Hang, Haimeng Xin, Jiyao Wei, Ming Lei, Yifeng Chen, Jifan Gao, Hengyu Zhang, Zhenyi Ni, Deren Yang, Xuegong Yu","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01778-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01778-y","url":null,"abstract":"Buried defects at the interface between the wide-bandgap perovskite and the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) limit the performance of p–i–n solar cells, particularly in textured monolithic perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells. Here we reveal that uncontrolled perovskite crystallization dynamics on conventional SAMs drives the co-evolution of electronic defects and morphological degradation at the buried interface. This stems from structural and energetic incompatibility between the perovskite precursor solution and the SAM. To precisely control the perovskite crystallization, we develop a tailored SAM that mitigates defect formation and enhances interfacial electronic coupling. Integrated into a perovskite–silicon tandem solar cell, this approach enables a power conversion efficiency of 33.86% (certified as 33.59%) for a device with a 1-cm2 area and a power conversion efficiency of 29.25% (certified as 28.53%) for an area of 16 cm2. The tandem device demonstrates remarkable operational stability, retaining more than 90% of the initial power conversion efficiency after 2,000 h of operational under 1-sun illumination. An engineered self-assembled monolayer improves perovskite crystallization, enabling perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells with a certified power conversion efficiency of 33.59%, 90% of which is maintained after 2,000 h of operation at ambient temperature.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"40-48"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382068","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 : 2025-10-17DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01772-4
Arturo Martin Jimenez, Marc Baltes, Jackson Cornelius, Neset Aközbek, Zachary J. Coppens
Free-space optical communication systems offer high-bandwidth, secure communication with minimal capital costs. Adaptive optics are typically added to these systems to decrease atmospheric channel losses; however, the performance of traditional adaptive optics wavefront sensors degrades in long-range, deep-turbulence conditions. Alternative wavefront sensors using phase diversity can successfully reconstruct wavefronts in deep turbulence, but current implementations require bulky setups with high latency. Here we use a nanostructured birefringent metasurface optic that enables low-latency phase diversity wavefront sensing in a compact form factor. We prove the effectiveness of this approach in mid-to-high turbulence (Rytov numbers from 0.2 to 0.6) through simulation and experimental demonstration. In both cases, an average 16-fold increase in signal from the corrected beam is obtained. We also demonstrate benefits such as noise tolerance and complex field reconstruction with high resolution. Our approach opens a pathway for compact, robust wavefront sensing that enhances range and accuracy of free-space optical communication systems. With free-space optical communications in mind, researchers used a nanostructured birefringent metasurface to achieve a 16-fold increase in the corrected beam signal in mid-to-high-turbulence conditions. Benefits of the noise-tolerant approach to wavefront reconstruction with high resolution are demonstrated.
{"title":"Single-shot phase diversity wavefront sensing in deep turbulence via metasurface optics","authors":"Arturo Martin Jimenez, Marc Baltes, Jackson Cornelius, Neset Aközbek, Zachary J. Coppens","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01772-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01772-4","url":null,"abstract":"Free-space optical communication systems offer high-bandwidth, secure communication with minimal capital costs. Adaptive optics are typically added to these systems to decrease atmospheric channel losses; however, the performance of traditional adaptive optics wavefront sensors degrades in long-range, deep-turbulence conditions. Alternative wavefront sensors using phase diversity can successfully reconstruct wavefronts in deep turbulence, but current implementations require bulky setups with high latency. Here we use a nanostructured birefringent metasurface optic that enables low-latency phase diversity wavefront sensing in a compact form factor. We prove the effectiveness of this approach in mid-to-high turbulence (Rytov numbers from 0.2 to 0.6) through simulation and experimental demonstration. In both cases, an average 16-fold increase in signal from the corrected beam is obtained. We also demonstrate benefits such as noise tolerance and complex field reconstruction with high resolution. Our approach opens a pathway for compact, robust wavefront sensing that enhances range and accuracy of free-space optical communication systems. With free-space optical communications in mind, researchers used a nanostructured birefringent metasurface to achieve a 16-fold increase in the corrected beam signal in mid-to-high-turbulence conditions. Benefits of the noise-tolerant approach to wavefront reconstruction with high resolution are demonstrated.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1315-1321"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382440","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}
High-power coherent optical transmitters with high-speed controllability are in demand for a number of cutting-edge applications, including intersatellite communications and deep-space optical communications. The conventional transmitters used in these applications require many bulky optical components besides their semiconductor laser sources, such as fibre-optical amplifiers, external phase modulators, optical fibres and beam-collimation lenses, which are obstacles in achieving compact and efficient systems. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate compact coherent optical transmitters based on frequency-modulated photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs) towards achieving long-distance free-space optical (FSO) communications. We design two-section PCSELs that incorporate two photonic crystals with slightly different band-edge resonant frequencies, and we realize watt-class frequency modulation with suppressed amplitude modulation via anti-phase current injection into the two sections. Using the above two-section PCSELs as coherent optical transmitters, we demonstrate fibre-amplifier-free FSO communications with Gbps-class bandwidth, even when the laser power is attenuated by >80 dB. Our work opens avenues toward the realization of one-chip coherent optical transmitters whose volume and weight are several orders of magnitude smaller than conventional bulky systems for a wide variety of coherent free-space laser applications. Researchers realize watt-class frequency modulation using compact coherent optical transmitters based on frequency-modulated photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers. The system has implications for long-distance free-space optical communications.
{"title":"Frequency-modulated high-power photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers for long-distance coherent free-space optical communications","authors":"Takuya Inoue, Ryohei Morita, Shota Ishimura, Shuei Nakano, Hidenori Takahashi, Takehiro Tsuritani, Menaka De Zoysa, Kenji Ishizaki, Masatoshi Suzuki, Susumu Noda","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01782-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01782-2","url":null,"abstract":"High-power coherent optical transmitters with high-speed controllability are in demand for a number of cutting-edge applications, including intersatellite communications and deep-space optical communications. The conventional transmitters used in these applications require many bulky optical components besides their semiconductor laser sources, such as fibre-optical amplifiers, external phase modulators, optical fibres and beam-collimation lenses, which are obstacles in achieving compact and efficient systems. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate compact coherent optical transmitters based on frequency-modulated photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs) towards achieving long-distance free-space optical (FSO) communications. We design two-section PCSELs that incorporate two photonic crystals with slightly different band-edge resonant frequencies, and we realize watt-class frequency modulation with suppressed amplitude modulation via anti-phase current injection into the two sections. Using the above two-section PCSELs as coherent optical transmitters, we demonstrate fibre-amplifier-free FSO communications with Gbps-class bandwidth, even when the laser power is attenuated by >80 dB. Our work opens avenues toward the realization of one-chip coherent optical transmitters whose volume and weight are several orders of magnitude smaller than conventional bulky systems for a wide variety of coherent free-space laser applications. Researchers realize watt-class frequency modulation using compact coherent optical transmitters based on frequency-modulated photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers. The system has implications for long-distance free-space optical communications.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 12","pages":"1330-1335"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01782-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382069","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 : 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01770-6
José R. C. Andrade, Martin Kretschmar, Rostyslav Danylo, Stefanos Carlström, Tobias Witting, Alexandre Mermillod-Blondin, Serguei Patchkovskii, Misha Yu Ivanov, Marc J. J. Vrakking, Arnaud Rouzée, Tamas Nagy
In the past few decades, the development of ultrafast lasers has revolutionized our ability to gain insight into light–matter interactions. The emergence of few-cycle light sources operating from the visible to the mid-infrared spectral range—as well as attosecond extreme ultraviolet and X-ray technologies—provide the possibility to directly observe and control ultrafast electron dynamics in matter on their natural timescale; however, the temporal characterization of few-femtosecond sources in the deep ultraviolet (4–6 eV, 300–200 nm) and the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV; 6–12 eV, 200–100 nm) spectral regions is challenging. Here we fully characterize the temporal shape of microjoule-energy VUV pulses tuned between 160 and 190 nm generated via resonant dispersive wave emission during soliton self-compression in a capillary using frequency-resolved optical gating based on two-photon photoionization in noble gases. The in situ measurements reveal that in most of the cases the pulses are shorter than 3 fs. These findings pave the way toward investigating ultrafast electron dynamics and valence excitation of a large class of atoms and molecules with a time-resolution that has been hitherto inaccessible when using VUV pulses. The temporal characterization of few-femtosecond vacuum ultraviolet pulses bring new opportunities for investigating ultrafast light-matter interactions.
{"title":"Temporal characterization of tunable few-cycle vacuum ultraviolet pulses","authors":"José R. C. Andrade, Martin Kretschmar, Rostyslav Danylo, Stefanos Carlström, Tobias Witting, Alexandre Mermillod-Blondin, Serguei Patchkovskii, Misha Yu Ivanov, Marc J. J. Vrakking, Arnaud Rouzée, Tamas Nagy","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01770-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01770-6","url":null,"abstract":"In the past few decades, the development of ultrafast lasers has revolutionized our ability to gain insight into light–matter interactions. The emergence of few-cycle light sources operating from the visible to the mid-infrared spectral range—as well as attosecond extreme ultraviolet and X-ray technologies—provide the possibility to directly observe and control ultrafast electron dynamics in matter on their natural timescale; however, the temporal characterization of few-femtosecond sources in the deep ultraviolet (4–6 eV, 300–200 nm) and the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV; 6–12 eV, 200–100 nm) spectral regions is challenging. Here we fully characterize the temporal shape of microjoule-energy VUV pulses tuned between 160 and 190 nm generated via resonant dispersive wave emission during soliton self-compression in a capillary using frequency-resolved optical gating based on two-photon photoionization in noble gases. The in situ measurements reveal that in most of the cases the pulses are shorter than 3 fs. These findings pave the way toward investigating ultrafast electron dynamics and valence excitation of a large class of atoms and molecules with a time-resolution that has been hitherto inaccessible when using VUV pulses. The temporal characterization of few-femtosecond vacuum ultraviolet pulses bring new opportunities for investigating ultrafast light-matter interactions.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"19 11","pages":"1240-1246"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-025-01770-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145436544","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 : 2025-10-07DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01769-z
Andres Gil-Molina, Yair Antman, Ohad Westreich, Xingchen Ji, Min Chul Shin, Gaurang R. Bhatt, Ipshita Datta, Bok Young Kim, Yoshitomo Okawachi, Alexander L. Gaeta, Michal Lipson
Integrated microcombs are promising for numerous applications that require a small footprint, high output power and high efficiency, such as data communications, sensing and spectroscopy. Electrically pumped microcombs have been recently demonstrated via the integration of gain chips with high-quality-factor integrated resonators. However, the overall optical power remains well below what is necessary for practical solutions. Here we demonstrate high-power electrically pumped Kerr-frequency microcombs by integrating a low-coherence source with high output power and silicon nitride ring resonators. We design the resonators with normal group velocity dispersion and leverage self-injection locking in the nonlinear regime for generating high on-chip power combs whereas, simultaneously, purifying the coherence of the pump source. We show microcombs with total on-chip power levels up to 158 mW and comb lines with an intrinsic linewidth as narrow as 200 kHz. We demonstrate more than twice the number of comb lines exceeding 100 μW and an order-of-magnitude higher on-chip power levels compared with previously reported results. Our novel electrically pumped microcomb source has the size, power and linewidth required for data communications, and could strongly impact other areas such as high-performance computing and ubiquitous devices for spectral-sensing and time-keeping applications. Combining a low-coherence source with silicon nitride ring resonators featuring normal group velocity dispersion enables electrically pumped, high-power microcombs, providing on-chip power up to 158 mW and high-coherence comb lines with linewidths as narrow as 200 kHz.
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