Nature Materials 15, 1150 (2016). doi:10.1038/nmat4735

Author: Jeppe C. Dyre

Scaling of the phonon damping with the wavevector in glasses is found to be different from the traditionally assumed Rayleigh scattering, and related to surprising, long-range correlations in the local elasticity matrix.

Author(s): Nasim Mohammadi Estakhri and Andrea Alù

Metasurfaces are engineered systems that enable advanced control of electromagnetic waves over deeply subwavelength thicknesses. Researchers make a careful study of the use of metasurfaces to transform the impinging optical wave front.

[Phys. Rev. X 6, 041008] Published Fri Oct 14, 2016

Author(s): Martin Frimmer, Jan Gieseler, and Lukas Novotny

Two oscillation modes of a levitated nanoparticle are cooled to their ground state through coupling of the modes.

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 163601] Published Tue Oct 11, 2016

Interplay between evanescence and disorder in deep subwavelength photonic structures

Nature Communications, Published online: 6 October 2016; doi:10.1038/ncomms12927

Features much smaller than the wavelength are not expected to have a significant impact on the transport of a wave. Here, the authors show that Anderson localization can dominate light transport in a one-dimensional disordered system, even when the disordered features are a thousand times smaller than the wavelength.

Author(s): Mickael Mounaix, Hugo Defienne, and Sylvain Gigan

We report a method to characterize the propagation of an ultrashort pulse of light through a multiple scattering medium by measuring its time-resolved transmission matrix. This method is based on the use of a spatial light modulator together with a coherent time-gated detection of the transmitted sp…

[Phys. Rev. A 94, 041802(R)] Published Mon Oct 17, 2016

There is a blind spot in AI research

Nature 538, 7625 (2016). doi:10.1038/538311a

Authors: Kate Crawford & Ryan Calo

Fears about the future impacts of artificial intelligence are distracting researchers from the real risks of deployed systems, argue Kate Crawford and Ryan Calo.

Title: Critical dynamics at the Anderson localization mobility edge
Author(s): Mueller, Cord A.; Delande, Dominique; Shapiro, Boris
Source: PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 94 (3): SEP 13 2016
Document Type: Article

Author(s): Takeshi Suzuki, Rohan Singh, Manfred Bayer, Arne Ludwig, Andreas D. Wieck, and Steven T. Cundiff

A spectroscopy method can identify quantum dots within an ensemble based on their size and emission frequency.

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 157402] Published Thu Oct 06, 2016

Can we open the black box of AI?

Nature 538, 7623 (2016). http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/538020a

Author: Davide Castelvecchi

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. But before scientists trust it, they first need to understand how machines learn.

A. Malavalli, M. Ackermann, C. M. Aegerter
In turbid media, light gets multiply scattered to an extent that all the information of its propagation is scrambled over a characteristic distance called the transport mean free path. Controlling light propagation through such media is therefore challenging. By using a feedback signal, the input ... [Opt. Express 24, 23018-23026 (2016)]

Nature Photonics 10, 657 (2016). doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.161

Authors: Zhen Shen, Yan-Lei Zhang, Yuan Chen, Chang-Ling Zou, Yun-Feng Xiao, Xu-Bo Zou, Fang-Wen Sun, Guang-Can Guo & Chun-Hua Dong

Non-reciprocal devices, such as circulators and isolators, are indispensable components in classical and quantum information processing in integrated photonic circuits. Aside from these applications, the non-reciprocal phase shift is of fundamental interest for exploring exotic topological photonics, such as the realization of chiral edge states and topological protection. However, incorporating low-optical-loss magnetic materials into a photonic chip is technically challenging. In this study we experimentally demonstrate non-magnetic non-reciprocity using optomechanical interactions in a whispering gallery microresonator, as proposed in a previous work. Optomechanically induced non-reciprocal transparency and amplification are observed and a non-reciprocal phase shift of up to 40° is also demonstrated. The underlying mechanism of optomechanically induced non-reciprocity has great potential for all-optical controllable isolators and circulators, as well as non-reciprocal phase shifters in integrated photonic chips.

Nature Photonics 10, 647 (2016). doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.184

Authors: Yushin Kim, Soo-Young Lee, Jung-Wan Ryu, Inbo Kim, Jae-Hyung Han, Heung-Sik Tae, Muhan Choi & Bumki Min

In dielectric cavities with a rotational symmetry, whispering gallery modes (WGMs) with an extremely long lifetime (that is, a very high Q factor) can be formed by total internal reflection of light around the rim of the cavities. The ultrahigh Q factor of WGMs has enabled a variety of impressive photonic systems, such as ultralow threshold microlasers, bio-sensors with unprecedented sensitivity and cavity optomechanical devices. However, the isotropic emission of WGMs, which is due to the rotational symmetry, is a serious drawback in applications that require directional light sources. Considerable efforts have thus been devoted to achieving directional emission by intentionally breaking the rotational symmetry. However, all of the methods proposed so far have suffered from substantial Q-spoiling. Here, we show how the mode properties of dielectric whispering gallery cavities, such as the Q factor and emission directionality, can be tailored at will using transformation optics. The proposed scheme will open a new horizon of applications beyond the conventional WGMs.

Nature Photonics 10, 681 (2016). doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.162

Authors: Drew Morrill, Dongfang Li & Domenico Pacifici

Hovertext:
Though, hopefully your kids don't drink as much as research scientists.

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Author(s): Philipp del Hougne, Fabrice Lemoult, Mathias Fink, and Geoffroy Lerosey

Controlling waves in complex media has become a major topic of interest, notably through the concepts of time reversal and wave front shaping. Recently, it was shown that spatial light modulators can counterintuitively focus waves both in space and time through multiple scattering media when illumin…

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 134302] Published Thu Sep 22, 2016

Author(s): H. L. Sørensen, J.-B. Béguin, K. W. Kluge, I. Iakoupov, A. S. Sørensen, J. H. Müller, E. S. Polzik, and J. Appel

Up to 75% of light reflects from just 2000 atoms aligned along an optical fiber, an arrangement that could be useful in photonic circuits.

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 133604] Published Fri Sep 23, 2016

Author(s): Neil V. Corzo, Baptiste Gouraud, Aveek Chandra, Akihisa Goban, Alexandra S. Sheremet, Dmitriy V. Kupriyanov, and Julien Laurat

Up to 75% of light reflects from just 2000 atoms aligned along an optical fiber, an arrangement that could be useful in photonic circuits.

[Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 133603] Published Fri Sep 23, 2016