Riccardo Sapienza

Julian Münzberg, Andreas Vetter, Fabian Beutel, Wladick Hartmann, Simone Ferrari, Wolfram H. P. Pernice, Carsten Rockstuhl
The combination of efficient single-photon generation, manipulation, and detection on a single chip poses a major challenge for quantum photonics and all-optical quantum computing. Among a multitude of detection technologies, waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors ... [Optica 5, 658-665 (2018)]

Dominic Hallett, Andrew P. Foster, David L. Hurst, Ben Royall, Pieter Kok, Edmund Clarke, Igor E. Itskevich, A. Mark Fox, Maurice S. Skolnick, Luke R. Wilson
Quantum photonics is a rapidly developing platform for future quantum network applications. Waveguide-based architectures, in which embedded quantum emitters act as both nonlinear elements to mediate photon–photon interactions and as highly coherent single-photon sources, offer a highly ... [Optica 5, 644-650 (2018)]

Mohammadjavad Dowran, Ashok Kumar, Benjamin J. Lawrie, Raphael C. Pooser, Alberto M. Marino
Quantum resources can enhance the sensitivity of a device beyond the classical shot noise limit and, as a result, revolutionize the field of metrology through the development of quantum-enhanced sensors. In particular, plasmonic sensors, which are widely used in biological and chemical sensing ... [Optica 5, 628-633 (2018)]

Author(s): Martin Neugebauer, Jörg S. Eismann, Thomas Bauer, and Peter Banzer

A new experiment reveals differences between the electric and magnetic components of the transverse spin density in tightly confined beams of light, providing a new route to controlling spin in optical information applications.

[Phys. Rev. X 8, 021042] Published Mon May 14, 2018

Author(s): I. Starshynov, A. M. Paniagua-Diaz, N. Fayard, A. Goetschy, R. Pierrat, R. Carminati, and J. Bertolotti

New experiments show previously unseen correlations among the speckle patterns of light transmitted through and reflected off a nonhomogenous medium, showing that information about one path of light can be deduced by measuring the other.

[Phys. Rev. X 8, 021041] Published Fri May 11, 2018

Author(s): Alex Y. Song, Peter B. Catrysse, and Shanhui Fan

We study topological nodes (phase singularities) in electromagnetic wave interactions with structures. We show that, when the nodes exist, it is possible to bind certain nodes to a specific plane in the structure by a combination of mirror and time-reversal symmetry. Such binding does not rely on an...

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 193903] Published Fri May 11, 2018

Artur Davoyan, Harry Atwater
Single-photon and correlated two-photon sources are important elements for optical information systems. Nonlinear downconversion light sources are robust and stable emitters of single photons and entangled photon pairs. However, the rate of downconverted light emission, dictated by the properties ... [Optica 5, 608-611 (2018)]

Author(s): James R. Garrison and Tarun Grover

New calculations show that a single stationary state of an isolated quantum system encodes physical properties of the entire system at all temperatures, which provides new, fundamental insight into the quantum nature of thermalization.

[Phys. Rev. X 8, 021026] Published Mon Apr 30, 2018

Author(s): Guangyuan Zhao, Cheng Zheng, Cuifang Kuang, Renjie Zhou, Mohammad M. Kabir, Kimani C. Toussaint, Jr., Wensheng Wang, Liang Xu, Haifeng Li, Peng Xiu, and Xu Liu

We demonstrate nonlinear focal modulation microscopy (NFOMM) to achieve superresolution imaging. Traditional approaches to superresolution that utilize point scanning often rely on spatially reducing the size of the emission pattern by directly narrowing (e.g., through minimizing the detection pinho...

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 193901] Published Wed May 09, 2018

Nicholas Bender, Hasan Yılmaz, Yaron Bromberg, Hui Cao
Speckles commonly satisfy Rayleigh statistics. However, in many applications, non-Rayleigh speckles with customized intensity statistics are desirable. Here, we present a general method for customizing the intensity statistics of speckle patterns on a target plane. By judiciously modulating the ... [Optica 5, 595-600 (2018)]

Author(s): Ralf Ritter, Nico Gruhler, Helge Dobbertin, Harald Kübler, Stefan Scheel, Wolfram Pernice, Tilman Pfau, and Robert Löw

New experiments investigate the interaction between light and rubidium atoms in a slot waveguide, which could pave the way for more efficient coupling between light and atoms in on-chip atomic vapor cell applications.

[Phys. Rev. X 8, 021032] Published Fri May 04, 2018

Scientists’ early grant success fuels further funding

Scientists’ early grant success fuels further funding, Published online: 23 April 2018; doi:10.1038/d41586-018-04958-9

Young researchers who narrowly miss out on postdoctoral grant struggle to compete with those who just qualify.

Author(s): Andrea Mazzolini, Marco Gherardi, Michele Caselle, Marco Cosentino Lagomarsino, and Matteo Osella

A mathematical analysis explores the statistics of shared components in complex systems and demonstrates what can be learned about the system based on those statistics, a result that impacts a wide range of contexts from LEGO sets to genomic analysis.

[Phys. Rev. X 8, 021023] Published Fri Apr 20, 2018

Author(s): F. Maucher, S. Skupin, S. A. Gardiner, and I. G. Hughes

In this Letter, we show that it is possible to structure the longitudinal polarization component of light. We illustrate our approach by demonstrating linked and knotted longitudinal vortex lines acquired upon nonparaxially propagating a tightly focused subwavelength beam. The remaining degrees of f...

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 163903] Published Mon Apr 16, 2018

Author(s): N. Tischler, C. Rockstuhl, and K. Słowik

New theoretical work shows how to implement nonunitary transformations on photons using simple optical building blocks, a key element for sophisticated quantum information networks and novel optical technologies.

[Phys. Rev. X 8, 021017] Published Fri Apr 13, 2018

Markus Pollnau
In the literature one finds several conflicting accounts of the phase difference of stimulated and spontaneous emission, as well as absorption, with respect to an existing (triggering) electromagnetic field. One of these approaches proposes that stimulated emission and absorption occur in phase and ... [Optica 5, 465-474 (2018)]