Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Local measurements of biological voltage production are key drivers of understanding in neurobiology and neurological and cardiac pathophysiology. Researchers have now shown that exciton–trion conversion in a two-dimensional semiconductor, MoS2, can be used to optically image cardiomyocyte action-potentials in real-time.
Topological localization of photons in both space and time has now been experimentally realized through synthetic photonic quantum walks, enabled by non-Hermitian gain–loss modulations. This investigation into time and space-time topology reveals unique phenomena beyond conventional spatial topological effects, including causality-suppressed coupling.
A programmable quantum chip has been developed that generates, manipulates, and launches five-dimensional entangled photons into free-space channels, encoded as optical vortex modes, thus bridging the worlds of integrated and free-space quantum photonics.
This Review summarizes the recent progress in ultrahigh-bandwidth optical-fibre communications based on integrated optical frequency comb technologies, or integrated Kerr microcombs, highlighting the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Electrochemical modulation of fluorophores enables regulating their emission states, facilitating spectral unmixing of up to four fluorophores with similar spectral characteristics. This method is readily applicable to multicolour STED imaging, effectively expanding a single imaging channel to four channels.
A laser design that exploits multiple bound states on a flat band to tightly confine light in three dimensions yields an ultracompact terahertz quantum cascade laser cavity with a lateral size of ~3λ.
Field-programmable photonic nonlinearity is realized by controlling the spatial distribution of carrier excitations and their dynamic behaviour within an active semiconductor, advancing photonic computing and its integration with reconfigurable computing architectures.
Light sheet microscopy with curved light sheets enables tiling-free imaging of an entire intact cleared mouse brain with lateral and axial spatial resolutions of 1.0 μm and 2.5 μm, respectively, in less than 3 h.
Combining space topology and time topology, topological states that are localized simultaneously in space and time are theoretically and experimentally demonstrated, potentially enabling the space-time topological shaping of light waves with applications in spatiotemporal wave control for imaging, communications and topological lasers.
Two-dimensional materials have revolutionized the field of photonics by enabling the manipulation of light at the nanoscale. As their potential continues to grow, we can expect to see more innovative applications emerging in the future.
An angular Fourier optics framework has been established and demonstrated, unlocking unprecedented opportunities for the analysis and manipulation of light waves carrying orbital angular momentum.
Intrinsically polarized white-light emission is highly demanded for many applications. It is now possible to realize it via a bimolecular doping strategy of organic semiconductor single crystals, overcoming long-standing limitations in organic emitters.
By integrating a moiré photonic structure on-chip with advanced microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology, an in situ twisted moiré photonic platform that can be tuned is realized, enabling nanometre-scale positioning of two optical nanostructures in either the near- or far-field coupling regime.
