Nature Photonics contents August 2013 Volume 7 Number 8 pp 577-664

Advertisement See what you've been missing with NEW Agilent Cary 7000 UMS Agilent introduces a revolution in solid sample measurement - the Cary 7000 Universal Measurement Spectrophotometer (UMS). Watch video, view webinar, receive a FREE Information Kit and learn how the NEW Cary 7000 will advance your materials analysis. TABLE OF CONTENTS August 2013 Volume 7, Issue 8 Editorial Commentary Research Highlights News and Views Review Letters Articles Interview Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Advertisement Frontiers Research Topics  RTs enable you and your colleagues to drive your field where you want to take it, by encouraging dialogue and collaboration between researchers. A collection of papers in an evolving field around a topic that you choose. Papers submitted are rigorously peer-reviewed and freely available under a CC-BY license.  Your Topic - Your Way - Your Frontiers    Editorial Top Optical clarity   p577 doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.212 Are inaccurate or misleading descriptions problems in photonics? Community feedback indicates that there is room for improvement in several areas. Commentary Top What is — and what is not — an optical isolator   pp579 - 582 Dirk Jalas, Alexander Petrov, Manfred Eich, Wolfgang Freude, Shanhui Fan et al. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.185 The quest for on-chip optical isolators has recently spawned many new isolator structures. However, there has been some confusion about the requirement of nonreciprocity. Here, we review the essential characteristics of an isolator. Research Highlights Top Optical storage: DNA multiplexing | Metamaterials: Gap plasmon stacks | Nanophotonics: Electrical excitation | Distributed feedback lasers: Biological lasers | Quantum memory: Hollow-core fibre | Nonlinear optics: Deriving Kerr frequency combs | LEDs: Overcoming the 'green gap' | Quantum optics: Optomechanical source | High-field science: Unprecedented accuracy | Organic optoelectronics: White LED News and Views Top Solitons: Echoes of past solitons   pp586 - 587 Franco Prati doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.194 Caging pairs of propagating solitons in a fibre ring resonator allows scientists to observe the solitons travelling astronomical distances, revealing the effects of extremely tiny forces exerted by the leading soliton on the trailing one. XUV sources: 13-nm XUV pulses from a cavity   pp587 - 589 Martin E. Fermann and Kevin F. Lee doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.152 Cavity-enhanced high-harmonic generation has been extended to the ∼10 nm wavelength range by using a pierced cavity mirror for outcoupling. This light source has the potential to realize further advances in precision extreme-ultraviolet spectroscopy and attosecond physics. Quantum optics: Squeezing more out of LIGO   pp589 - 590 Ulrik L. Andersen doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.182 Further sensitivity improvements are required before advanced optical interferometers will be able to measure gravitational waves. A team has now shown that introducing quantum squeezing of light may help to detect these elusive waves. Polaritons: The rise of the bosonic laser   pp591 - 592 Alexey Kavokin doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.196 Two independent groups have concurrently reported the first bosonic lasers driven by electrical injection. Although the devices operate only at low temperatures and in a strong magnetic field, they represent an important step forward in the evolution of polariton-based optoelectronics. Optics: The flame lens   p592 Oliver Graydon doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.186 Nonlinear optics: Defying Abbe's law   pp593 - 594 Zeev Zalevsky doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.211 By using propagation in a nonlinear medium, several spatial modes and photons can be simultaneously interacted spatially. This enables the conventional laws of imaging, which are based on linear propagation theory, to be bent. View from... SPP6: New directions in plasmonics   pp594 - 596 David Pile doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.195 New themes such as quantum effects and nonlocality presented at the Sixth International Conference on Surface Plasmon Photonics along with new work in traditional fields indicate that plasmonics is not slowing down yet. Photonics JOBS of the week Canada Excellence Research Chair in Neurophotonics Université Laval PhD Studentship: Laser Spectroscopic Measurement Of Trace Atmospheric Species University of Southampton PhD Hybrid Nanostructures Optics / Plasmonics Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - Italian Institute of Technology PhD on Quantum dot sources of non-classical light for quantum information processing Tyndall National Institute More Science jobs from Photonics EVENT SPIE Photonics West Exhibition 2014 02.02.14 San Francisco, USA More science events from Review Top New CMOS-compatible platforms based on silicon nitride and Hydex for nonlinear optics   pp597 - 607 David J. Moss, Roberto Morandotti, Alexander L. Gaeta and Michal Lipson doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.183 This article reviews recent progress in the use of silicon nitride and Hydex as non-silicon-based CMOS-compatible platforms for nonlinear optics. New capabilities such as on-chip optical frequency comb generation, ultrafast optical pulse generation and measurement using these materials, and their potential future impact and challenges are covered. Letters Top Compact high-repetition-rate source of coherent 100 eV radiation   pp608 - 612 I. Pupeza, S. Holzberger, T. Eidam, H. Carstens, D. Esser et al. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.156 Spatially coherent 11.45 nm radiation is produced by outcoupling the harmonics of cavity-enhanced nonlinearly compressed pulses from a Yb-based laser through a pierced cavity mirror. This technique may lead to high-photon-flux ultrashort-pulse extreme-ultraviolet sources for use in a wide range of applications. See also: News and Views by Fermann & Lee Enhanced sensitivity of the LIGO gravitational wave detector by using squeezed states of light   pp613 - 619 J. Aasi, J. Abadie, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott et al. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.177 Squeezed states of light have been experimentally demonstrated to improve the performance of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in astrophysically relevant frequency regions. This enhanced performance may help to reach the sensitivity required for detecting gravitational waves. See also: News and Views by Andersen An ultrafast terahertz scanning tunnelling microscope   pp620 - 625 Tyler L. Cocker, Vedran Jelic, Manisha Gupta, Sean J. Molesky, Jacob A. J. Burgess et al. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.151 An ultrafast terahertz (THz) scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) with subpicosecond time resolution and nanometre spatial resolution has been developed. THz pulses are coupled to the metal tip of a commercial STM and THz-pulse-induced tunnelling is observed in the STM. The THz-STM can directly image ultrafast carrier capture by a single InAs nanodot. Quantum-dense metrology   pp626 - 630 Sebastian Steinlechner, Joran Bauchrowitz, Melanie Meinders, Helge Muller-Ebhardt, Karsten Danzmann et al. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.150 Researchers demonstrate a laser interferometer that achieves simultaneous nonclassical readout of two conjugated observables. Because their system uses steady-state entanglement, it does not require any conditioning or post-selection. By distinguishing between scientific and parasitic signals, its sensitivity exceeds the standard quantum limit by about 6 dB. Entanglement-enhanced detection of single-photon scattering events   pp630 - 633 C. Hempel, B. P. Lanyon, P. Jurcevic, R. Gerritsma, R. Blatt et al. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.172 A highly efficient method is demonstrated for detecting individual photons scattering from short-lived transitions in single trapped ions. An entangled state is used to amplify the tiny momentum kick an ion receives on scattering a photon. Cat-state spectroscopy has an 18-fold higher measurement sensitivity than the direct detection method. Circularly polarized light detection by a chiral organic semiconductor transistor   pp634 - 638 Ying Yang, Rosenildo Correa da Costa, Matthew J. Fuchter and Alasdair J. Campbell doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.176 An organic field effect transistor featuring the chiral molecule helicene acts as a photodetector that is able to distinguish between left- and right-handed circularly polarized light. Nonlinear Abbe theory   pp639 - 643 Christopher Barsi and Jason W. Fleischer doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.171 Nonlinear optics can overcome the diffraction limit through the presence and interaction of many photons. Abbe's diffraction theory is now generalized to include spatial nonlinearity, and wave mixing is treated as a self-induced structured illumination, thereby allowing a standard imaging system to be nonlinearly enhanced beyond its conventional limits. See also: News and Views by Zalevsky Articles Top Tenfold reduction of Brownian noise in high-reflectivity optical coatings   pp644 - 650 Garrett D. Cole, Wei Zhang, Michael J. Martin, Jun Ye and Markus Aspelmeyer doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.174 By employing monocrystalline semiconductor materials as high-quality optical coatings, the long-standing challenge of minimizing the optical phase noise produced by Brownian motion in a multilayer has been overcome. A thermally limited noise floor consistent with a tenfold reduction in mechanical damping relative to that in the best dielectric multilayers is achieved. Photonic streaking of attosecond pulse trains   pp651 - 656 Kyung Taec Kim, Chunmei Zhang, Thierry Ruchon, Jean-Francois Hergott, Thierry Auguste et al. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.170 An all-optical photonic streaking measurement is demonstrated that provides direct experimental access to individual attosecond pulses. The effects of non-adiabatic electron dynamics and plasma formation on the generated attosecond pulse train are directly observed when the pulse train is applied to harmonic generation in gases. Ultraweak long-range interactions of solitons observed over astronomical distances   pp657 - 663 Jae K. Jang, Miro Erkintalo, Stuart G. Murdoch and Stephane Coen doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.157 Recirculating temporal optical cavity solitons in a coherently driven passive optical fibre ring resonator allows pairs of solitons to interact over distances 8,000 times their width. This finding highlights the extreme stability, robustness and coherence of the process, and of solitons in general. See also: News and Views by Prati | Interview with Coen and Erkintalo Interview Top Unexpected weak interaction   p664 Interview with Stephane Coen and Miro Erkintalo doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.215 Stephane Coen and Miro Erkintalo from the University of Auckland in New Zealand talk to Nature Photonics about their surprising findings regarding a weak long-range interaction they serendipitously stumbled upon while researching temporal cavity solitons. Top Advertisement Attending SPIE Optics and Photonics in San Diego? Pick up a free sample copy of Nature Photonics at booth #746   Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here. Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. 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