2021 Vol. 10, No. 11
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2004-2014
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00643-1
In 2016, the news that Google's artificial intelligence (AI) robot AlphaGo, based on the principle of deep learning, won the victory over lee Sedol, the former world Go champion and the famous 9th Dan competitor of Korea, caused a sensation in both fields of AI and Go, which brought epoch-making significance to the development of deep learning. Deep learning is a complex machine learning algorithm that uses multiple layers of artificial neural networks to automatically analyze signals or data. At present, deep learning has penetrated into our daily life, such as the applications of face recognition and speech recognition. Scientists have also made many remarkable achievements based on deep learning. Professor Aydogan Ozcan from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) led his team to research deep learning algorithms, which provided new ideas for the exploring of optical computational imaging and sensing technology, and introduced image generation and reconstruction methods which brought major technological innovations to the development of related fields. Optical designs and devices are moving from being physically driven to being data-driven. We are much honored to have Aydogan Ozcan, Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and Chancellor's Professor of UCLA, to unscramble his latest scientific research results and foresight for the future development of related fields, and to share his journey of pursuing Optics, his indissoluble relationship with Light: Science & Applications (LSA), and his experience in talent cultivation.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2015-2018
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00653-z
The extreme spectral broadening of light in supercontinuum generation (SCG) is considered by many as the ultimate legacy of nonlinear optics. In this interview, Light: Science & Applications invited John Dudley [see the "Short Bio" section]—pioneer of supercontinuum generation, rogue waves, and ultrafast lasers—to share insight on how supercontinuum generation have evolved over the past decades and where it is heading. Also as the Steering Chair of UNESCO's International Day of Light & International Year of Light (IDL & IYL), John is asked to share his comments on how light may influence post-pandemic World.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2019-2021
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00631-5
A nonlinear hologram enables to record the amplitude and phase of a waveform by spatially modulating the second order nonlinear coefficient, so that when a pump laser illuminates it, this waveform is reconstructed at the second harmonic frequency. The concept was now extended to enable the generation of multiple waveforms from a single hologram, with potential applications in high density storage, quantum optics, and optical microscopy.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2024-2025
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00669-5
Engineering the spectral response of composite materials in a broad range from ultraviolet to infrared can lead to a significant passive cooling functionality. This principle is applied to the design of a novel type of metafabric for cooling the human body under direct sunlight. Besides cooling effect, the metafabric features other merits including superior mechanical and wetting properties.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2026-2027
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00668-6
Orbital angular momentum interactions at the nanoscale have remained elusive because the phase structure becomes unresolved. Now researchers have shown how to overcome this with tightly focused beams, demonstrating a record-high six-dimensional encoding in an ultra-dense nanoscale volume.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2028-2047
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00639-x
Many polarisation techniques have been harnessed for decades in biological and clinical research, each based upon measurement of the vectorial properties of light or the vectorial transformations imposed on light by objects. Various advanced vector measurement/sensing techniques, physical interpretation methods, and approaches to analyse biomedically relevant information have been developed and harnessed. In this review, we focus mainly on summarising methodologies and applications related to tissue polarimetry, with an emphasis on the adoption of the Stokes–Mueller formalism. Several recent breakthroughs, development trends, and potential multimodal uses in conjunction with other techniques are also presented. The primary goal of the review is to give the reader a general overview in the use of vectorial information that can be obtained by polarisation optics for applications in biomedical and clinical research.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2048-2066
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00642-2
Metamaterials with a Dirac-like cone dispersion at the center of the Brillouin zone behave like an isotropic and impedance-matched zero refractive index material at the Dirac-point frequency. Such metamaterials can be realized in the form of either bulk metamaterials with efficient coupling to free-space light or on-chip metamaterials that are efficiently coupled to integrated photonic circuits. These materials enable the interactions of a spatially uniform electromagnetic mode with matter over a large area in arbitrary shapes. This unique optical property paves the way for many applications, including arbitrarily shaped high-transmission waveguides, nonlinear enhancement, and phase mismatch-free nonlinear signal generation, and collective emission of many emitters. This review summarizes the Dirac-like cone-based zero-index metamaterials' fundamental physics, design, experimental realizations, and potential applications.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2067-2082
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00640-4
Carbon neutrality, energy savings, and lighting costs and quality have always led to urgent demand for lighting technology innovation. White light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) based on a single emissive layer (SEL) fabricated by the solution method have been continuously researched in recent years; they are advantageous because they have a low cost and are ultrathin and flexible. Here, we reviewed the history and development of SEL–WLEDs over recent years to provide inspiration and promote their progress in lighting applications. We first introduced the emitters and analysed the advantages of these emitters in creating SEL–WLEDs and then reviewed some cases that involve the above emitters, which were formed via vacuum thermal evaporation or solution processes. Some notable developments that deserve attention are highlighted in this review due to their potential use in SEL–WLEDs, such as perovskite materials. Finally, we looked at future development trends of SEL–WLEDs and proposed potential research directions.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2083-2097
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00654-y
We review recent studies of cavity switching induced by the optical injection of free carriers in micropillar cavities containing quantum dots. Using the quantum dots as a broadband internal light source and a streak camera as detector, we track the resonance frequencies for a large set of modes with picosecond time resolution. We report a record-fast switch-on time constant (1.5 ps) and observe major transient modifications of the modal structure of the micropillar on the 10 ps time scale: mode crossings are induced by a focused symmetric injection of free carriers, while a lifting of several mode degeneracies is observed when off-axis injection breaks the rotational symmetry of the micropillar. We show theoretically and experimentally that cavity switching can be used to tailor the dynamic properties of the coupled QD–cavity system. We report the generation of ultrashort spontaneous emission pulses (as short as 6 ps duration) by a collection of frequency-selected QDs in a switched pillar microcavity. These pulses display a very small coherence length, attractive for ultrafast speckle-free imaging. Moreover, the control of QD-mode coupling on the 10 ps time scale establishes cavity switching as an appealing resource for quantum photonics.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2098-2127
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00658-8
With rapid advances in high-speed communication and computation, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are emerging as next-generation display platforms for deeper human-digital interactions. Nonetheless, to simultaneously match the exceptional performance of human vision and keep the near-eye display module compact and lightweight imposes unprecedented challenges on optical engineering. Fortunately, recent progress in holographic optical elements (HOEs) and lithography-enabled devices provide innovative ways to tackle these obstacles in AR and VR that are otherwise difficult with traditional optics. In this review, we begin with introducing the basic structures of AR and VR headsets, and then describing the operation principles of various HOEs and lithography-enabled devices. Their properties are analyzed in detail, including strong selectivity on wavelength and incident angle, and multiplexing ability of volume HOEs, polarization dependency and active switching of liquid crystal HOEs, device fabrication, and properties of micro-LEDs (light-emitting diodes), and large design freedoms of metasurfaces. Afterwards, we discuss how these devices help enhance the AR and VR performance, with detailed description and analysis of some state-of-the-art architectures. Finally, we cast a perspective on potential developments and research directions of these photonic devices for future AR and VR displays.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2128-2142
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00630-6
This study is the first to explore the potential associations among allergic conjunctivitis (AC), air pollution, and meteorological conditions in Northeast China. Data of meteorology, ambient atmospheric pollutants, and the incidence of allergic conjunctivitis (IAC) in prefecture-level cities between the years 2014 and 2018 are analyzed. The results show an increasing trend in the AC of average growth rate per annum 7.6%, with the highest incidence in the provincial capitals. The IAC is positively correlated with atmospheric pollutants (i.e., PM2.5, PM10, CO, SO2, NO2, and O3) and meteorological factors (i.e., air temperature and wind speed), but negatively correlated with relative humidity. These results suggest that the IAC is directly proportional to pollution level and climatic conditions, and also the precedence of air pollution. We have further obtained the threshold values of atmospheric pollutants concentration and meteorological factors, a turning point above which more AC may be induced. Compared with the air quality standard advised by China and the World Health Organization (WHO), both thresholds of PM10 (70 μg m−3) and PM2.5 (45 μg m−3) are higher than current standards and pose a less environmental risk for the IAC. SO2 threshold (23 μg m−3) is comparable to the WHO standard and significantly lower than that of China's, indicating greater environmental risks in China. Both thresholds of NO2 (27 μg m−3) and O3 (88 μg m−3) are below current standards, indicating that they are major environmental risk factors for the IAC. Our findings highlight the importance of atmospheric environmental protection and reference for health-based amendment.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2143-2152
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00636-0
The deployment of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) necessitates an integration platform that is scalable, high-throughput, cost-effective, and power-efficient. Here we present a monolithic InP on SOI platform to synergize the advantages of two mainstream photonic integration platforms: Si photonics and InP photonics. This monolithic InP/SOI platform is realized through the selective growth of both InP sub-micron wires and large dimension InP membranes on industry-standard (001)-oriented silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. The epitaxial InP is in-plane, dislocation-free, site-controlled, intimately positioned with the Si device layer, and placed right on top of the buried oxide layer to form "InP-on-insulator". These attributes allow for the realization of various photonic functionalities using the epitaxial InP, with efficient light interfacing between the Ⅲ-Ⅴ devices and the Si-based waveguides. We exemplify the potential of this InP/SOI platform for integrated photonics through the demonstration of lasers with different cavity designs including subwavelength wires, square cavities, and micro-disks. Our results here mark a critical step forward towards fully-integrated Si-based PICs.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2153-2160
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00644-0
Multiferroics are being studied increasingly in applications of photovoltaic devices for the carrier separation driven by polarization and magnetization. In this work, textured black silicon photovoltaic devices are fabricated with Bi6Fe1.6Co0.2Ni0.2Ti3O18/Bi2FeCrO6 (BFCNT/BFCO) multiferroic heterojunction as an absorber and graphene as an anode. The structural and optical analyses showed that the bandgap of Aurivillius-typed BFCNT and double perovskite BFCO are 1.62 ± 0.04 eV and 1.74 ± 0.04 eV respectively, meeting the requirements for the active layer in solar cells. Under the simulated AM 1.5 G illumination, the black silicon photovoltaic devices delivered a photoconversion efficiency (η) of 3.9% with open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current density (Jsc), and fill factor (FF) of 0.75 V, 10.8 mA cm−2, and 48.3%, respectively. Analyses of modulation of an applied electric and magnetic field on the photovoltaic properties revealed that both polarization and magnetization of multiferroics play an important role in tuning the built-in electric field and the transport mechanisms of charge carriers, thus providing a new idea for the design of future high-performance multiferroic oxide photovoltaic devices.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2161-2172
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00647-x
High-index nanoparticles are known to support radiationless states called anapoles, where dipolar and toroidal moments interfere to inhibit scattering to the far field. In order to exploit the striking properties arising from these interference conditions in photonic integrated circuits, the particles must be driven in-plane via integrated waveguides. Here, we address the excitation of electric anapole states in silicon disks when excited on-chip at telecom wavelengths. In contrast to normal illumination, we find that the anapole condition—identified by a strong reduction of the scattering—does not overlap with the near-field energy maximum, an observation attributed to retardation effects. We experimentally verify the two distinct spectral regions in individual disks illuminated in-plane from closely placed waveguide terminations via far-field and near-field measurements. Our finding has important consequences concerning the use of anapole states and interference effects of other Mie-type resonances in high-index nanoparticles for building complex photonic integrated circuitry.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2173-2183
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00648-w
Multimodal non-linear microscopy combining coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering, second harmonic generation, and two-photon excited fluorescence has proved to be a versatile and powerful tool enabling the label-free investigation of tissue structure, molecular composition, and correlation with function and disease status. For a routine medical application, the implementation of this approach into an in vivo imaging endoscope is required. However, this is a difficult task due to the requirements of a multicolour ultrashort laser delivery from a compact and robust laser source through a fiber with low losses and temporal synchronization, the efficient signal collection in epi-direction, the need for small-diameter but highly corrected endomicroobjectives of high numerical aperture and compact scanners. Here, we introduce an ultra-compact fiber-scanning endoscope platform for multimodal non-linear endomicroscopy in combination with a compact four-wave mixing based fiber laser. The heart of this fiber-scanning endoscope is an in-house custom-designed, single mode, double clad, double core pure silica fiber in combination with a 2.4 mm diameter NIR-dual-waveband corrected endomicroscopic objective of 0.55 numerical aperture and 180 µm field of view for non-linear imaging, allowing a background free, low-loss, high peak power laser delivery, and an efficient signal collection in backward direction. A linear diffractive optical grating overlays pump and Stokes laser foci across the full field of view, such that diffraction-limited performance is demonstrated for tissue imaging at one frame per second with sub-micron spatial resolution and at a high transmission of 65% from the laser to the specimen using a distal resonant fiber scanner.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2184-2194
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00646-y
The notion of topological phases extended to dynamical systems stimulates extensive studies, of which the characterization of nonequilibrium topological invariants is a central issue and usually necessitates the information of quantum dynamics in both the time and momentum dimensions. Here, we propose the topological holographic quench dynamics in synthetic dimension, and also show it provides a highly efficient scheme to characterize photonic topological phases. A pseudospin model is constructed with ring resonators in a synthetic lattice formed by frequencies of light, and the quench dynamics is induced by initializing a trivial state, which evolves under a topological Hamiltonian. Our key prediction is that the complete topological information of the Hamiltonian is encoded in quench dynamics solely in the time dimension, and is further mapped to lower-dimensional space, manifesting the holographic features of the dynamics. In particular, two fundamental time scales emerge in the dynamical evolution, with one mimicking the topological band on the momentum dimension and the other characterizing the residue time evolution of the state after the quench. For this, a universal duality between the quench dynamics and the equilibrium topological phase of the spin model is obtained in the time dimension by extracting information from the field evolution dynamics in modulated ring systems in simulations. This work also shows that the photonic synthetic frequency dimension provides an efficient and powerful way to explore the topological nonequilibrium dynamics.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2195-2206
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00649-9
Scanning fluorescence microscopes are now able to image large biological samples at high spatial and temporal resolution. This comes at the expense of an increased light dose which is detrimental to fluorophore stability and cell physiology. To highly reduce the light dose, we designed an adaptive scanning fluorescence microscope with a scanning scheme optimized for the unsupervised imaging of cell sheets, which underly the shape of many embryos and organs. The surface of the tissue is first delineated from the acquisition of a very small subset (~0.1%) of sample space, using a robust estimation strategy. Two alternative scanning strategies are then proposed to image the tissue with an improved photon budget, without loss in resolution. The first strategy consists in scanning only a thin shell around the estimated surface of interest, allowing high reduction of light dose when the tissue is curved. The second strategy applies when structures of interest lie at the cell periphery (e.g. adherens junctions). An iterative approach is then used to propagate scanning along cell contours. We demonstrate the benefit of our approach imaging live epithelia from Drosophila melanogaster. On the examples shown, both approaches yield more than a 20-fold reduction in light dose -and up to more than 80-fold- compared to a full scan of the volume. These smart-scanning strategies can be easily implemented on most scanning fluorescent imaging modality. The dramatic reduction in light exposure of the sample should allow prolonged imaging of the live processes under investigation.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2207-2216
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00650-2
Spectroscopy is a well-established nonintrusive tool that has played an important role in identifying and quantifying substances, from quantum descriptions to chemical and biomedical diagnostics. Challenges exist in accurate spectrum analysis in free space, which hinders us from understanding the composition of multiple gases and the chemical processes in the atmosphere. A photon-counting distributed free-space spectroscopy is proposed and demonstrated using lidar technique, incorporating a comb-referenced frequency-scanning laser and a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector. It is suitable for remote spectrum analysis with a range resolution over a wide band. As an example, a continuous field experiment is carried out over 72 h to obtain the spectra of carbon dioxide (CO2) and semi-heavy water (HDO, isotopic water vapor) in 6 km, with a range resolution of 60 m and a time resolution of 10 min. Compared to the methods that obtain only column-integrated spectra over kilometer-scale, the range resolution is improved by 2–3 orders of magnitude in this work. The CO2 and HDO concentrations are retrieved from the spectra acquired with uncertainties as low as ±1.2% and ±14.3%, respectively. This method holds much promise for increasing knowledge of atmospheric environment and chemistry researches, especially in terms of the evolution of complex molecular spectra in open areas.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2217-2225
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00651-1
Glasses-free three-dimensional (3D) displays are one of the game-changing technologies that will redefine the display industry in portable electronic devices. However, because of the limited resolution in state-of-the-art display panels, current 3D displays suffer from a critical trade-off among the spatial resolution, angular resolution, and viewing angle. Inspired by the so-called spatially variant resolution imaging found in vertebrate eyes, we propose 3D display with spatially variant information density. Stereoscopic experiences with smooth motion parallax are maintained at the central view, while the viewing angle is enlarged at the periphery view. It is enabled by a large-scale 2D-metagrating complex to manipulate dot/linear/rectangular hybrid shaped views. Furthermore, a video rate full-color 3D display with an unprecedented 160° horizontal viewing angle is demonstrated. With thin and light form factors, the proposed 3D system can be integrated with off-the-shelf purchased flat panels, making it promising for applications in portable electronics.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2226-2232
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00661-z
Optical interference is not only a fundamental phenomenon that has enabled new theories of light to be derived but it has also been used in interferometry for the measurement of small displacements, refractive index changes, and surface irregularities. In a two-beam interferometer, variations in the interference fringes are used as a diagnostic for anything that causes the optical path difference (OPD) to change; therefore, for a specified OPD, greater variation in the fringes indicates better measurement sensitivity. Here, we introduce and experimentally validate an interesting optical interference phenomenon that uses photons with a structured frequency-angular spectrum, which are generated from a spontaneous parametric down-conversion process in a nonlinear crystal. This interference phenomenon is manifested as interference fringes that vary much more rapidly with increasing OPD than the corresponding fringes for equal-inclination interference; the phenomenon is parameterised using an equivalent wavelength, which under our experimental conditions is 29.38 nm or about 1/27 of the real wavelength. This phenomenon not only enriches the knowledge with regard to optical interference but also offers promise for applications in interferometry.
Published. 2021, 10(11)
: 2233-2244
doi: 10.1038/s41377-021-00662-y
The deep-level traps induced by charged defects at the grain boundaries (GBs) of polycrystalline organic–inorganic halide perovskite (OIHP) films serve as major recombination centres, which limit the device performance. Herein, we incorporate specially designed poly(3-aminothiophenol)-coated gold (Au@PAT) nanoparticles into the perovskite absorber, in order to examine the influence of plasmonic resonance on carrier dynamics in perovskite solar cells. Local changes in the photophysical properties of the OIHP films reveal that plasmon excitation could fill trap sites at the GB region through photo-brightening, whereas transient absorption spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations correlate this photo-brightening of trap states with plasmon-induced interfacial processes. As a result, the device achieved the best efficiency of 22.0% with robust operational stability. Our work provides unambiguous evidence for plasmon-induced trap occupation in OIHP and reveals that plasmonic nanostructures may be one type of efficient additives to overcome the recombination losses in perovskite solar cells and thin-film solar cells in general.
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