Topic
Nonlinear optics research, explained
9 open-access nonlinear optics studies, each with a flashcard deck and a quiz.
- Can a metal film make nano-sized frequency doublers efficient?
Putting a thin semiconductor waveguide just above a silver film squeezes infrared light into a tiny region and makes frequency doubling far stronger than in the same structure on glass.
- Can we take 3D pictures with single mid-infrared photons?
Converting mid-infrared echoes into visible light with a femtosecond laser gate lets an ordinary silicon camera build detailed 3D images from extremely few photons.
- Can a crystal grow its own 3D frequency-doubling structure?
A potassium tantalate niobate crystal naturally grows a three-dimensional pattern of ferroelectric domains that lets it double the frequency of laser light from any of several directions and polarizations, without artificial poling.
- Can a lossy spot perfectly swallow interacting matter waves?
A single lossy site in a lattice of ultracold atoms can completely absorb incoming matter waves from both sides, and the atoms' own interactions help lock the system into this state.
- Can a voltage make a non-chiral crystal respond to light's handedness?
Applying voltage pulses to a mirror-symmetric ferroelectric perovskite created mixtures of domains that made its frequency-doubled light depend strongly, and switchably, on whether the laser was left- or right-circularly polarized.
- Can InGaP chips convert light colours far more efficiently?
Thin InGaP waveguides double the frequency of telecom light about a hundred times more efficiently than lithium niobate chips and produce very bright entangled photon pairs.
- How much continuous laser power can a nanofibre carry?
A silica fibre thinner than a wavelength of light carried 13 watts of steady laser power while losing only a small fraction of it, far more than previously shown.
- Can light-matter hybrids broaden a laser pulse on a tiny chip?
Mixing light with semiconductor excitons made a short laser pulse spread into a broad rainbow of colours and angles using far less power and length than ordinary optical materials need.
- Can laser light be shaped to tell mirror-image molecules apart?
Simulations show that a specially shaped two-colour laser field can make one mirror-image form of a molecule shine at triple frequency while the other stays dark, and flip this by changing a phase delay.