Pub Date : 2026-03-13DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02358
Zaid Tasneem, Yongyi Zhao, Johannes E. Fröch, Arka Majumdar, Ashok Veeraraghavan
The ubiquitous use of computer vision technologies in our personal lives has led to privacy concerns. This paper presents a computational camera that optically filters out private attributes such as identity and still enables downstream vision task of person detection. Our approach involves replacing a traditional lens in an imaging setup with broadband meta-optics (MOs), the parameters of which are optimized in an end-to-end fashion using a differentiable look-up table for the MO and a person detection neural network. Privacy is introduced to the optimization pipeline using a novel and computationally inexpensive private Strehl integral regularization to preserve low-frequency details while filtering out high-frequency details that contain facial identity information. We experimentally validate our approach using captures from our privacy-aware meta-optics and demonstrate that this method achieves a better privacy utility trade-off compared to existing techniques. As such, we present the first privacy-aware broadband meta-optics for person detection.
{"title":"Privacy-Aware Meta-Optics for Person Detection","authors":"Zaid Tasneem, Yongyi Zhao, Johannes E. Fröch, Arka Majumdar, Ashok Veeraraghavan","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02358","url":null,"abstract":"The ubiquitous use of computer vision technologies in our personal lives has led to privacy concerns. This paper presents a computational camera that optically filters out private attributes such as identity and still enables downstream vision task of person detection. Our approach involves replacing a traditional lens in an imaging setup with broadband meta-optics (MOs), the parameters of which are optimized in an end-to-end fashion using a differentiable look-up table for the MO and a person detection neural network. Privacy is introduced to the optimization pipeline using a novel and computationally inexpensive private Strehl integral regularization to preserve low-frequency details while filtering out high-frequency details that contain facial identity information. We experimentally validate our approach using captures from our privacy-aware meta-optics and demonstrate that this method achieves a better privacy utility trade-off compared to existing techniques. As such, we present the first privacy-aware broadband meta-optics for person detection.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147448048","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 : 2026-03-12DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02796
Haijiang Qiu, Wenjiayi Tan, Dachao Du, Yuewen Dai, Song Yang, Jiaxing Tian, Yuanhui Zheng, Xin Chen, Dan Liu, Guanglang Chen
Indium phosphide quantum dots (InP QDs) are premier candidates for environmentally friendly displays, yet their industrial utility is limited by complex, multistep synthesis methods requiring intermediate purification. Here, we present a kinetic control and ligand synergy strategy enabling the centrifugation-free, one-pot synthesis of high-performance green InP/GaP/ZnS QDs. By pinpointing the nucleation temperature (250 °C) and optimizing the In:myristic acid ratio (1:4), we establish a dynamic ligand environment that successfully suppresses oxidized indium species (InPOx) formation and nonradiative recombination, as validated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The resulting green-emitting InP/GaP/ZnS QDs achieved an outstanding photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 86% and a narrow full width at half-maximum of 44 nm, representing the highest reported PLQY for one-pot synthesized InP QDs with GaP intermediate shells. Quantum dot light-emitting diodes fabricated with these QDs demonstrate stable electroluminescence at 535 nm, achieving a maximum external quantum efficiency of 3.02% and a current efficiency of 12.14 cd A–1. This scalable, centrifugation-free approach effectively bridges the performance gap between one-pot and multistep synthesis, offering a viable pathway toward the industrial manufacturing of environmentally benign QDs for display and lighting applications.
磷化铟量子点（InP QDs）是环境友好型显示器的首选候选材料，但其工业用途受到需要中间纯化的复杂多步骤合成方法的限制。在这里，我们提出了一种动力学控制和配体协同策略，使高性能绿色InP/GaP/ZnS量子点的无离心、一锅合成成为可能。通过确定成核温度（250°C）和优化In:myristic acid ratio(1:4)，我们建立了一个动态配体环境，成功地抑制了氧化铟（InPOx）的形成和非辐射重组，并通过x射线光电子能谱进行了验证。由此制备的绿色发光InP/GaP/ZnS量子点的光致发光量子产率（PLQY）高达86%，半峰宽窄，为44 nm，是目前报道的具有GaP中间壳层的单锅合成InP量子点的最高PLQY。用这些量子点制备的量子点发光二极管在535 nm处表现出稳定的电致发光，最大外量子效率为3.02%，电流效率为12.14 cd a - 1。这种可扩展的、无离心的方法有效地弥合了一锅和多步合成之间的性能差距，为显示和照明应用的环保量子点的工业制造提供了一条可行的途径。
{"title":"Centrifugation-Free One-Pot Synthesis of Green InP/GaP/ZnS Quantum Dots Via Kinetic and Ligand Control","authors":"Haijiang Qiu, Wenjiayi Tan, Dachao Du, Yuewen Dai, Song Yang, Jiaxing Tian, Yuanhui Zheng, Xin Chen, Dan Liu, Guanglang Chen","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02796","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02796","url":null,"abstract":"Indium phosphide quantum dots (InP QDs) are premier candidates for environmentally friendly displays, yet their industrial utility is limited by complex, multistep synthesis methods requiring intermediate purification. Here, we present a kinetic control and ligand synergy strategy enabling the centrifugation-free, one-pot synthesis of high-performance green InP/GaP/ZnS QDs. By pinpointing the nucleation temperature (250 °C) and optimizing the In:myristic acid ratio (1:4), we establish a dynamic ligand environment that successfully suppresses oxidized indium species (InPO<sub><i>x</i></sub>) formation and nonradiative recombination, as validated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The resulting green-emitting InP/GaP/ZnS QDs achieved an outstanding photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of 86% and a narrow full width at half-maximum of 44 nm, representing the highest reported PLQY for one-pot synthesized InP QDs with GaP intermediate shells. Quantum dot light-emitting diodes fabricated with these QDs demonstrate stable electroluminescence at 535 nm, achieving a maximum external quantum efficiency of 3.02% and a current efficiency of 12.14 cd A<sup>–1</sup>. This scalable, centrifugation-free approach effectively bridges the performance gap between one-pot and multistep synthesis, offering a viable pathway toward the industrial manufacturing of environmentally benign QDs for display and lighting applications.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"87 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147448069","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 : 2026-03-12DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.6c00107
Haiyan Lin, Weibin Lin, Chao Zhong, Tao Chen, Kuibao Yu, Zhihan Lin, Yongshen Yu, Fushan Li, Hailong Hu
Efficiency roll-off of quantum-dot light-emitting devices (QLEDs) at high brightness severely impedes their commercialization, which is mainly attributed to the difficulty in regulating excessive and imbalanced carrier injection under varying electric fields. In this study, a dynamic self-regulation strategy responsive to external electric fields is proposed, which is realized by integrating nematic liquid crystal molecule 5CB into the electron transport layer. The reorientation of 5CB, triggered by the applied bias, generates a built-in electric field that dynamically modulates electron transport in real time, enabling balanced charge carriers during dynamic operation. As a result, the self-regulated QLEDs achieve a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 26.04% and demonstrate ultrastable efficiency retention, maintaining an EQE of 25.37% even at an extremely high brightness of 100,000 nits. This work offers a novel approach for dynamic control of carriers, paving the way for the development of high-performance QLEDs with outstanding stability.
{"title":"Dynamic Self-Regulation Strategy for Suppressing Efficiency Roll-Off in High-Brightness Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Devices","authors":"Haiyan Lin, Weibin Lin, Chao Zhong, Tao Chen, Kuibao Yu, Zhihan Lin, Yongshen Yu, Fushan Li, Hailong Hu","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.6c00107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.6c00107","url":null,"abstract":"Efficiency roll-off of quantum-dot light-emitting devices (QLEDs) at high brightness severely impedes their commercialization, which is mainly attributed to the difficulty in regulating excessive and imbalanced carrier injection under varying electric fields. In this study, a dynamic self-regulation strategy responsive to external electric fields is proposed, which is realized by integrating nematic liquid crystal molecule 5CB into the electron transport layer. The reorientation of 5CB, triggered by the applied bias, generates a built-in electric field that dynamically modulates electron transport in real time, enabling balanced charge carriers during dynamic operation. As a result, the self-regulated QLEDs achieve a peak external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 26.04% and demonstrate ultrastable efficiency retention, maintaining an EQE of 25.37% even at an extremely high brightness of 100,000 nits. This work offers a novel approach for dynamic control of carriers, paving the way for the development of high-performance QLEDs with outstanding stability.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147448070","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}
Endowing wafer-level-manufactured two-dimensional (2D) materials with anisotropy to enable polarization-sensitive photodetection applications holds significant research importance. On the one hand, although many kinds of 2D semiconductors deliver good polarization-sensitivity, most of them do not realize the wafer-scale growth due to the rare precursor, complex fabrication, or instability in ambient. On the other hand, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has the possibility to grow as large as 12 in., but it is optically isotropic and does not exhibit polarization-sensitivity. It is a significant challenge to break its symmetry and enable future polarization-sensitive focal-plane-array photodetection. Herein, MoS2 with different twisted angles was successfully prepared, and its optical, photoelectronic, and polarization properties were investigated, and its potential in polarization-sensitive photodetection was explored. First, the nonuniform interlayer coupling and local strain generated by lattice relaxation in twisted bilayer MoS2 (TBL-MoS2) were characterized from the structure, and the broken symmetry of TBL-MoS2 was demonstrated. Besides, TBL-MoS2 exhibited polarization-sensitive properties, the polarization ratio first increased and then decreased as the twisted angle decreases from 18.3° to 1.7°, reaching an extreme value of 1.40@650 nm at 2.2°. The anisotropic and polarization-sensitive photodetection properties exhibited by TBL-MoS2 provide crucial evidence for exploring applications of isotropic 2D materials in polarization detection.
{"title":"Symmetry Breaking in Twisted Bilayer CVD-Grown Single-Crystal MoS2 for High-Performance Polarization-Sensitive Photodetection","authors":"Shaoyuan Wang, Haijuan Wu, Xiai Luo, Chunchi Zhang, Chao Tan, Guohua Hu, Siyuan Luo, Zegao Wang","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02707","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02707","url":null,"abstract":"Endowing wafer-level-manufactured two-dimensional (2D) materials with anisotropy to enable polarization-sensitive photodetection applications holds significant research importance. On the one hand, although many kinds of 2D semiconductors deliver good polarization-sensitivity, most of them do not realize the wafer-scale growth due to the rare precursor, complex fabrication, or instability in ambient. On the other hand, molybdenum disulfide (MoS<sub>2</sub>) has the possibility to grow as large as 12 in., but it is optically isotropic and does not exhibit polarization-sensitivity. It is a significant challenge to break its symmetry and enable future polarization-sensitive focal-plane-array photodetection. Herein, MoS<sub>2</sub> with different twisted angles was successfully prepared, and its optical, photoelectronic, and polarization properties were investigated, and its potential in polarization-sensitive photodetection was explored. First, the nonuniform interlayer coupling and local strain generated by lattice relaxation in twisted bilayer MoS<sub>2</sub> (TBL-MoS<sub>2</sub>) were characterized from the structure, and the broken symmetry of TBL-MoS<sub>2</sub> was demonstrated. Besides, TBL-MoS<sub>2</sub> exhibited polarization-sensitive properties, the polarization ratio first increased and then decreased as the twisted angle decreases from 18.3° to 1.7°, reaching an extreme value of 1.40@650 nm at 2.2°. The anisotropic and polarization-sensitive photodetection properties exhibited by TBL-MoS<sub>2</sub> provide crucial evidence for exploring applications of isotropic 2D materials in polarization detection.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"12 36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147393307","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 : 2026-03-12DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02787
Emma R. Bartelsen, J. Ryan Nolen, Christopher R. Gubbin, Mingze He, Ryan W. Spangler, Joshua Nordlander, Cassandra L. Bogh, Katja Diaz-Granados, Simone De Liberato, Jon-Paul Maria, James R. McBride, Joshua D. Caldwell
In applications such as atmospheric monitoring of greenhouse gases and pollutants, the detection and identification of trace concentrations of harmful gases is commonly achieved using nondispersive infrared (NDIR) sensors. These devices typically employ a broadband infrared emitter, thermopile detector, and spectrally selective bandpass filter tuned to the vibrational resonance of the target analyte. However, fabrication of these filters is costly and limited to a single frequency. This limitation introduces a fundamental trade-off, as broadening the optical passband width enhances sensitivity but compromises selectivity, whereas narrowing improves selectivity at the expense of sensitivity. In this work, we validate a filterless NDIR gas sensing approach utilizing a multipeak thermal emitter developed through an inverse design. This emitter enhances detection sensitivity by simultaneously targeting multiple absorption bands, demonstrated through the creation of a sensor designed for the C–H vibrational modes of propane (C3H8). Additionally, a second set of single-peak emitters was developed to showcase the capability of designing highly selective sensors operating within close spectral proximity. These emitters, targeting the stretching modes of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2), exhibit quality factors (Q-factors) above 50 and minimal crosstalk, enabling accurate detection of the target gas without interference from gases with spectrally adjacent absorption bands. This is enabled by aperiodic distributed Bragg reflectors (a-DBRs), which achieve higher Q-factors with fewer layers than periodic Bragg reflectors. Experimental results demonstrate that this approach breaks the trade-off between sensitivity and selectivity.
{"title":"Multiresonant Nondispersive Infrared Gas Sensing: Breaking the Selectivity and Sensitivity Trade-Off","authors":"Emma R. Bartelsen, J. Ryan Nolen, Christopher R. Gubbin, Mingze He, Ryan W. Spangler, Joshua Nordlander, Cassandra L. Bogh, Katja Diaz-Granados, Simone De Liberato, Jon-Paul Maria, James R. McBride, Joshua D. Caldwell","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02787","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02787","url":null,"abstract":"In applications such as atmospheric monitoring of greenhouse gases and pollutants, the detection and identification of trace concentrations of harmful gases is commonly achieved using nondispersive infrared (NDIR) sensors. These devices typically employ a broadband infrared emitter, thermopile detector, and spectrally selective bandpass filter tuned to the vibrational resonance of the target analyte. However, fabrication of these filters is costly and limited to a single frequency. This limitation introduces a fundamental trade-off, as broadening the optical passband width enhances sensitivity but compromises selectivity, whereas narrowing improves selectivity at the expense of sensitivity. In this work, we validate a filterless NDIR gas sensing approach utilizing a multipeak thermal emitter developed through an inverse design. This emitter enhances detection sensitivity by simultaneously targeting multiple absorption bands, demonstrated through the creation of a sensor designed for the C–H vibrational modes of propane (C<sub>3</sub>H<sub>8</sub>). Additionally, a second set of single-peak emitters was developed to showcase the capability of designing highly selective sensors operating within close spectral proximity. These emitters, targeting the stretching modes of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>), exhibit quality factors (Q-factors) above 50 and minimal crosstalk, enabling accurate detection of the target gas without interference from gases with spectrally adjacent absorption bands. This is enabled by aperiodic distributed Bragg reflectors (a-DBRs), which achieve higher Q-factors with fewer layers than periodic Bragg reflectors. Experimental results demonstrate that this approach breaks the trade-off between sensitivity and selectivity.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"127 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147393715","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}
Optical antennas are widely used to enhance light–matter interactions at the nanoscale, enabling applications in surface-enhanced infrared absorption, Raman scattering, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. These spectroscopies rely on the antenna’s ability to locally enhance incident electromagnetic fields and, conversely, to enhance scattering from nanoscale emitters within the near field. Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) provides a means to study this antenna-mediated scattering, with the s-SNOM tip acting as a local scatterer. However, in conventional setups with top-side illumination and detection, interference between tip and antenna scattering challenges studies beyond linearly polarized illumination. Here, we use transflection s-SNOM with normal-incidence illumination and detection to demonstrate polarization-resolved measurements of antenna-mediated tip scattering. We derive an analytical relation between the measured signal and the antenna’s near-field enhancement tensor, and validate it experimentally with mid-infrared metallic disk and spiral antennas. Particularly, we show that from four measurements using only linear polarizers it is possible to obtain results corresponding to illumination with circular polarization. Generally, our approach links the local near-field enhancement of complex antenna structures to the antenna-mediated polarized scattering of a nanoscale object (a tip in this work) placed in their vicinity, thereby establishing a new route for broadband spectroscopy studies of field-enhanced chiral and anisotropic light–matter interactions at the nanoscale.
{"title":"Polarization-Resolved Characterization of Antenna-Mediated Scattering in Transflection s-SNOM","authors":"Théo Hannotte,Iker Herrero Léon,Rainer Hillenbrand","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02630","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02630","url":null,"abstract":"Optical antennas are widely used to enhance light–matter interactions at the nanoscale, enabling applications in surface-enhanced infrared absorption, Raman scattering, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. These spectroscopies rely on the antenna’s ability to locally enhance incident electromagnetic fields and, conversely, to enhance scattering from nanoscale emitters within the near field. Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) provides a means to study this antenna-mediated scattering, with the s-SNOM tip acting as a local scatterer. However, in conventional setups with top-side illumination and detection, interference between tip and antenna scattering challenges studies beyond linearly polarized illumination. Here, we use transflection s-SNOM with normal-incidence illumination and detection to demonstrate polarization-resolved measurements of antenna-mediated tip scattering. We derive an analytical relation between the measured signal and the antenna’s near-field enhancement tensor, and validate it experimentally with mid-infrared metallic disk and spiral antennas. Particularly, we show that from four measurements using only linear polarizers it is possible to obtain results corresponding to illumination with circular polarization. Generally, our approach links the local near-field enhancement of complex antenna structures to the antenna-mediated polarized scattering of a nanoscale object (a tip in this work) placed in their vicinity, thereby establishing a new route for broadband spectroscopy studies of field-enhanced chiral and anisotropic light–matter interactions at the nanoscale.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"6 10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147383772","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 : 2026-03-09DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02910
Viktor A. Podolskiy,Evgenii Narimanov
Electromagnetic composites (metamaterials) recently underwent explosive growth fueled in part by advances in nanofabrication. It is commonly believed that as the size of the components decreases, the behavior of a composite converges to the response of a homogeneous material (recent research indicates that in the limit of nanoscale composites, the constituent parameters of nanostructures may be quantitatively affected by nonlocal corrections). Here we show that this intuitive understanding of the electromagnetic response of composite media is fundamentally flawed, even at the qualitative level. In contrast to the well-understood (local) effective medium response, the properties of nanostructured composites can be dominated, not simply corrected, by electromagnetic nonlocality. We demonstrate that in composites, the interplay between the nonlocality and the structural inhomogeneity introduces two fundamentally new electromagnetic regimes: primordial metamaterials and homogenizable nonlocality. We develop an analytical description of these regimes and show that the behavior of metamaterials in the limits of vanishing nonlocality and of vanishing component size does not commute. Our work opens a new dimension in the design space of nanostructured electromagnetic composites.
{"title":"Primordial Media: The Shrouded Realm of Composite Materials","authors":"Viktor A. Podolskiy,Evgenii Narimanov","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02910","url":null,"abstract":"Electromagnetic composites (metamaterials) recently underwent explosive growth fueled in part by advances in nanofabrication. It is commonly believed that as the size of the components decreases, the behavior of a composite converges to the response of a homogeneous material (recent research indicates that in the limit of nanoscale composites, the constituent parameters of nanostructures may be quantitatively affected by nonlocal corrections). Here we show that this intuitive understanding of the electromagnetic response of composite media is fundamentally flawed, even at the qualitative level. In contrast to the well-understood (local) effective medium response, the properties of nanostructured composites can be dominated, not simply corrected, by electromagnetic nonlocality. We demonstrate that in composites, the interplay between the nonlocality and the structural inhomogeneity introduces two fundamentally new electromagnetic regimes: primordial metamaterials and homogenizable nonlocality. We develop an analytical description of these regimes and show that the behavior of metamaterials in the limits of vanishing nonlocality and of vanishing component size does not commute. Our work opens a new dimension in the design space of nanostructured electromagnetic composites.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147383773","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 : 2026-03-09DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02925
Ashutosh Shukla,Sneha Boby,Rahul Chand,G. V. Pavan Kumar
Plasmonic optical matter (OM), composed of optically bound metallic particles, can be rotated by transferring the spin angular momentum (SAM) of chiral light to the assembly. Rotating OM is a promising platform for optical micromachines with potential applications in plasmofluidics and soft robotics. Understanding the dynamic states of such Brownian, micromechanical systems is a relevant issue. One key problem is understanding kinetic jamming and clogging. Studies of driven multiparticle systems have revealed that under suboptimal driving, the systems can stop moving, showing jamming transitions. It is important to identify dynamic regimes where crowding competes with driving and is susceptible to jamming in the context of optical micromachines. Through experiments supported by numerical simulations, we reveal assemblies with well-defined hexagonal or triangular symmetry that efficiently harness the SAM of incident chiral light, resulting in a stable rotation. However, as the plasmonic-particle assembly grows and its dimensions approach the beam waist, new particles can disrupt this order. This causes a transition to a “fluid-like” state with less defined symmetry, correlated with a significant reduction in transferred torque, causing the rotation to stagnate or cease. We suggest that this behavior is analogous to a rotational jamming transition, where the rotational motion is arrested. Our findings establish a clear relationship between the structural symmetry of the OM assembly and its ability to harness SAM, providing new insights into controlling chiral light-matter interactions and offering a novel platform for studying jamming transitions.
{"title":"Rotational Jamming of Plasmonic Optical Matter Driven by Chiral Light","authors":"Ashutosh Shukla,Sneha Boby,Rahul Chand,G. V. Pavan Kumar","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02925","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c02925","url":null,"abstract":"Plasmonic optical matter (OM), composed of optically bound metallic particles, can be rotated by transferring the spin angular momentum (SAM) of chiral light to the assembly. Rotating OM is a promising platform for optical micromachines with potential applications in plasmofluidics and soft robotics. Understanding the dynamic states of such Brownian, micromechanical systems is a relevant issue. One key problem is understanding kinetic jamming and clogging. Studies of driven multiparticle systems have revealed that under suboptimal driving, the systems can stop moving, showing jamming transitions. It is important to identify dynamic regimes where crowding competes with driving and is susceptible to jamming in the context of optical micromachines. Through experiments supported by numerical simulations, we reveal assemblies with well-defined hexagonal or triangular symmetry that efficiently harness the SAM of incident chiral light, resulting in a stable rotation. However, as the plasmonic-particle assembly grows and its dimensions approach the beam waist, new particles can disrupt this order. This causes a transition to a “fluid-like” state with less defined symmetry, correlated with a significant reduction in transferred torque, causing the rotation to stagnate or cease. We suggest that this behavior is analogous to a rotational jamming transition, where the rotational motion is arrested. Our findings establish a clear relationship between the structural symmetry of the OM assembly and its ability to harness SAM, providing new insights into controlling chiral light-matter interactions and offering a novel platform for studying jamming transitions.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147383778","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}
Electrically pumped lasing in colloidal quantum dots (QDs) is a promising approach for developing solution-processable on-chip light sources. A key step toward this goal is achieving lasing within the high-optical-loss architecture of quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). This necessitates simultaneously high material gain and low population-inversion thresholds, which are challenging to attain with conventional QDs due to constraints like Kasha’s rule and Auger recombination. In this study, a mild photochemical n-doping strategy is applied to cube-shaped CdSe/CdS core/shell QDs to modulate their excited-state transitions. This approach results in a lasing threshold below 3 excitons per QD, a material gain coefficient exceeding 900 cm–1, and a suppression of nonradiative Auger decay, evidenced by an extended biexciton lifetime of approximately 7 ns. These properties facilitate optically pumped, pure excited-state amplified spontaneous emission at room temperature in a functional QLED structure. The findings suggest that engineering excited-state transitions in heavily n-doped gain media can help overcome the limitations of band-edge-dominated gain, providing a potential pathway for realizing electrically pumped QD lasers.
{"title":"Quantum-Dots Excited-State Lasing for High-Loss Devices","authors":"Zixuan Song, Haixin Lei, Yizhen Zhu, Xing Lin, Xiaogang Peng","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.5c03120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c03120","url":null,"abstract":"Electrically pumped lasing in colloidal quantum dots (QDs) is a promising approach for developing solution-processable on-chip light sources. A key step toward this goal is achieving lasing within the high-optical-loss architecture of quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). This necessitates simultaneously high material gain and low population-inversion thresholds, which are challenging to attain with conventional QDs due to constraints like Kasha’s rule and Auger recombination. In this study, a mild photochemical <i>n</i>-doping strategy is applied to cube-shaped CdSe/CdS core/shell QDs to modulate their excited-state transitions. This approach results in a lasing threshold below 3 excitons per QD, a material gain coefficient exceeding 900 cm<sup>–1</sup>, and a suppression of nonradiative Auger decay, evidenced by an extended biexciton lifetime of approximately 7 ns. These properties facilitate optically pumped, pure excited-state amplified spontaneous emission at room temperature in a functional QLED structure. The findings suggest that engineering excited-state transitions in heavily <i>n</i>-doped gain media can help overcome the limitations of band-edge-dominated gain, providing a potential pathway for realizing electrically pumped QD lasers.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"72 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147368211","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 : 2026-03-06DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5c03091
Jinzhan Zhong, Renzo L. Ricca, Qiwen Zhan
Borromean rings are topological objects made of three inseparable rings, where no two rings are linked with one another. Here we report the first creation of Borromean rings using three-dimensional (3D) structured light. The topological light is constructed from the homotopic mapping of complex braids, followed by the implementation of an accurate adjustment of the vortex lines in a 2D complex space. By carefully tailoring the amplitude and phase distribution of the monochromatic light, we generate the optical Borromean vortex rings within the propagation volume. Full topological reconstruction of the Borromean vortex rings is performed by using digital holography. The topological design method enables the generation of the figure-eight vortex knot family and even more complex topological textures. These findings offer insights into the topological evolution of Borromean rings in other physical systems and pave the way for potential applications in emerging technologies involving light–matter interactions, optical encoding, and quantum information.
{"title":"Optical Borromean Vortex Rings","authors":"Jinzhan Zhong, Renzo L. Ricca, Qiwen Zhan","doi":"10.1021/acsphotonics.5c03091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.5c03091","url":null,"abstract":"Borromean rings are topological objects made of three inseparable rings, where no two rings are linked with one another. Here we report the first creation of Borromean rings using three-dimensional (3D) structured light. The topological light is constructed from the homotopic mapping of complex braids, followed by the implementation of an accurate adjustment of the vortex lines in a 2D complex space. By carefully tailoring the amplitude and phase distribution of the monochromatic light, we generate the optical Borromean vortex rings within the propagation volume. Full topological reconstruction of the Borromean vortex rings is performed by using digital holography. The topological design method enables the generation of the figure-eight vortex knot family and even more complex topological textures. These findings offer insights into the topological evolution of Borromean rings in other physical systems and pave the way for potential applications in emerging technologies involving light–matter interactions, optical encoding, and quantum information.","PeriodicalId":23,"journal":{"name":"ACS Photonics","volume":"47 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147360885","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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