High-efficiency light modulation within transparent substrates is critically important for advancing in-chip integrated optical technologies. However, current micro/nanophotonic platforms primarily rely on 2D surface configurations, rendering them inadequate for 3D optical design in dielectric environments. Here, we introduce a precise phase-transition technique that enables the direct lithography of highly regular amorphous units in multiple transparent dielectric crystals (lithium niobates, quartz, yttrium vanadate, etc.). This unit can be rapidly written with a single ultrafast laser pulse, exhibiting a high-purity amorphization phase transition interior structure and a regular sheet-like anisotropic spatial morphology (aspect ratio reaching 190:1). We reveal that this amorphization stems from ultrafast laser-driven anisotropic thermal deposition, achieved through the synergy of the light-induced high-density free electrons and thermal effects. Such embedded units achieve more than an order of magnitude improvement in the efficiency of nonlinear beam shaping (~3% second harmonic and ~0.1% third harmonic) and offer multiple degrees of freedom for device design. This study establishes a versatile platform for on-demand production of all-dielectric micro/nanophotonic architectures in the free space of transparent dielectrics, unlocking new avenues for 3D integrated photonics.
{"title":"Single-pulse lithography of amorphous photonic architectures inside all-inorganic dielectric crystals.","authors":"Zhuo Wang,Rongze Ma,Han Lin,Pengfei Zhang,Yu Lu,Feng Chen,Baohua Jia,Bo Zhang,Jianrong Qiu","doi":"10.1038/s41377-026-02253-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02253-1","url":null,"abstract":"High-efficiency light modulation within transparent substrates is critically important for advancing in-chip integrated optical technologies. However, current micro/nanophotonic platforms primarily rely on 2D surface configurations, rendering them inadequate for 3D optical design in dielectric environments. Here, we introduce a precise phase-transition technique that enables the direct lithography of highly regular amorphous units in multiple transparent dielectric crystals (lithium niobates, quartz, yttrium vanadate, etc.). This unit can be rapidly written with a single ultrafast laser pulse, exhibiting a high-purity amorphization phase transition interior structure and a regular sheet-like anisotropic spatial morphology (aspect ratio reaching 190:1). We reveal that this amorphization stems from ultrafast laser-driven anisotropic thermal deposition, achieved through the synergy of the light-induced high-density free electrons and thermal effects. Such embedded units achieve more than an order of magnitude improvement in the efficiency of nonlinear beam shaping (~3% second harmonic and ~0.1% third harmonic) and offer multiple degrees of freedom for device design. This study establishes a versatile platform for on-demand production of all-dielectric micro/nanophotonic architectures in the free space of transparent dielectrics, unlocking new avenues for 3D integrated photonics.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"234 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147471748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-16DOI: 10.1038/s41377-026-02212-w
Dan Xiang,Zhichao Wang,Hongwei Zheng,Yuqi Tang,Quan Li
Near-infrared II (NIR-II) fluorophores possess transformative potential for biomedical applications, owing to their deep-tissue penetration, reduced tissue autofluorescence, and low phototoxicity. Recent breakthroughs in molecular engineering have accelerated the development of NIR-II organic small-molecule fluorophores based on versatile scaffolds, including cyanine, boron dipyrromethene, benzobisthiadiazole, xanthene, cyano-based derivatives, and small-molecule metal complexes. This review systematically summarizes the molecular engineering strategies, photophysical properties, and structure-function relationships of NIR-II fluorophores in the last five years. We highlight recent breakthroughs in their theranostic applications, including high-resolution deep-tissue imaging and efficient phototherapeutic modalities such as photodynamic and photothermal therapy. Finally, we present forward-looking perspectives on current challenges and emerging opportunities, aiming to provide insights for promoting continued innovation and clinical translation in this rapidly advancing field.
{"title":"Organic small-molecule NIR-II fluorophores for tumor phototheranostics.","authors":"Dan Xiang,Zhichao Wang,Hongwei Zheng,Yuqi Tang,Quan Li","doi":"10.1038/s41377-026-02212-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02212-w","url":null,"abstract":"Near-infrared II (NIR-II) fluorophores possess transformative potential for biomedical applications, owing to their deep-tissue penetration, reduced tissue autofluorescence, and low phototoxicity. Recent breakthroughs in molecular engineering have accelerated the development of NIR-II organic small-molecule fluorophores based on versatile scaffolds, including cyanine, boron dipyrromethene, benzobisthiadiazole, xanthene, cyano-based derivatives, and small-molecule metal complexes. This review systematically summarizes the molecular engineering strategies, photophysical properties, and structure-function relationships of NIR-II fluorophores in the last five years. We highlight recent breakthroughs in their theranostic applications, including high-resolution deep-tissue imaging and efficient phototherapeutic modalities such as photodynamic and photothermal therapy. Finally, we present forward-looking perspectives on current challenges and emerging opportunities, aiming to provide insights for promoting continued innovation and clinical translation in this rapidly advancing field.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Raman optical time-domain reflectometry (ROTDR) inherently balances sensing range, spatial resolution, and temperature accuracy through the pulse duration dictated by the OTDR position principle. However, optimizing one metric conventionally degrades the others, forming a theoretical trade-off. This work introduces complex-domain square-wave width-chirp pulse compression to break that physical limitation. The steep edges and rich high-order harmonics of complex-domain square-wave width-chirp pulse undergo matched filtering, producing a compressed δ-pulse whose full width at half maximum, rather than the original pulse duration, now governs sensing spatial resolution. Complex-domain matched filtering, implemented via a conjugate time-reversal filter, achieves a 15.09 dB gain in signal-to-noise ratio, while the complex-domain envelope extraction method isolates and removes Raman phase noise. The proposed scheme simultaneously achieves 45 km sensing distance, 0.5 m spatial resolution, and 0.11 °C temperature accuracy, demonstrating complete decoupling of these metrics from the pulse duration. The proposed framework offers a new paradigm for long-range, high-precision distributed temperature sensing and is extensible to Brillouin and Rayleigh scattering systems.
{"title":"45 km ROTDR with 0.5 m/0.11 °C via complex-domain square-wave width-chirp pulse compression","authors":"Bowen Fan, Jian Li, Xinyue Zhang, Lulei Li, Rilong Wang, Jianzhong Zhang, Mingjiang Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s41377-026-02245-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02245-1","url":null,"abstract":"Raman optical time-domain reflectometry (ROTDR) inherently balances sensing range, spatial resolution, and temperature accuracy through the pulse duration dictated by the OTDR position principle. However, optimizing one metric conventionally degrades the others, forming a theoretical trade-off. This work introduces complex-domain square-wave width-chirp pulse compression to break that physical limitation. The steep edges and rich high-order harmonics of complex-domain square-wave width-chirp pulse undergo matched filtering, producing a compressed δ-pulse whose full width at half maximum, rather than the original pulse duration, now governs sensing spatial resolution. Complex-domain matched filtering, implemented via a conjugate time-reversal filter, achieves a 15.09 dB gain in signal-to-noise ratio, while the complex-domain envelope extraction method isolates and removes Raman phase noise. The proposed scheme simultaneously achieves 45 km sensing distance, 0.5 m spatial resolution, and 0.11 °C temperature accuracy, demonstrating complete decoupling of these metrics from the pulse duration. The proposed framework offers a new paradigm for long-range, high-precision distributed temperature sensing and is extensible to Brillouin and Rayleigh scattering systems.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Blue perovskite quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) are highly attractive for new generation high-definition displays, but their practical deployment is hindered by severe efficiency roll-off at high brightness (>4000 cd m−²) while maintaining high color purity (CIEy < 0.1). This roll-off arises mainly from non-radiative losses induced by exposed dangling bonds, strong inter-dot coupling, and low permittivity. To conquer this challenge, we develop a multifunctional molecule passivation strategy utilizing 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (EMIMPF₆). The [PF₆]− anions coordinate with lead dangling bonds, cesium sites, and weaken coupling, while [EMIM]⁺ cations suppress bromine-related defects and inhibit Auger recombination, collectively reducing exciton quenching pathways. This treatment increases the photoluminescence quantum yield of QD films from 78% to 92% and enables spectrally high color purity blue emission at 472 nm (CIEy = 0.091). Crucially, the resulting devices deliver a record-high external quantum efficiency (EQE) exceeding 20% at 6441 cd m−² and maintain 18.47% EQE at 9587 cd m−² with nearly eliminated roll-off, representing the best performance to date for blue perovskite QLEDs (CIEy < 0.1). Moreover, the operational lifetime improves by an order of magnitude compared with previous reports.
蓝钙钛矿量子点发光二极管（qled）在新一代高清显示器中具有很高的吸引力，但其实际部署受到高亮度（>4000 cd m−²）下严重的效率滚降的阻碍，同时保持高颜色纯度（CIEy < 0.1）。这种滚转主要是由暴露的悬空键、强点间耦合和低介电常数引起的非辐射损失引起的。为了克服这一挑战，我们开发了一种多功能分子钝化策略，利用1-乙基-3-甲基咪唑六氟磷酸（EMIMPF₆）。[PF₆]+阴离子与铅悬空键、铯位点配位，减弱偶联，而[EMIM] +阳离子抑制溴相关缺陷，抑制俄歇复合，共同减少激子猝灭途径。该处理将QD薄膜的光致发光量子产率从78%提高到92%，并在472 nm （CIEy = 0.091）处实现了光谱高色纯度的蓝色发射。至关重要的是，所得到的器件在6441 cd m−²时提供了创纪录的高外量子效率（EQE），超过20%，在9587 cd m−²时保持18.47%的EQE，几乎消除了滚降，代表了迄今为止蓝色钙钛矿qled （CIEy < 0.1）的最佳性能。此外，与以前的报告相比，操作生命周期提高了一个数量级。
{"title":"Ultra-Low Efficiency Roll-Off High Color Purity Blue Perovskite Quantum Dot LEDs with Exceeding 20% Efficiency","authors":"Mingyuan Xie, Chenghao Bi, Shibo Wei, Zhentao Jiang, Guo Li, Hangren Li, Yong Zhang, Feng Zhao, Meng-Jiao Li, Hui Lin, Ya-Kun Wang, Liang-Sheng Liao, Silu Tao","doi":"10.1038/s41377-026-02231-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02231-7","url":null,"abstract":"Blue perovskite quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) are highly attractive for new generation high-definition displays, but their practical deployment is hindered by severe efficiency roll-off at high brightness (>4000 cd m−²) while maintaining high color purity (CIEy < 0.1). This roll-off arises mainly from non-radiative losses induced by exposed dangling bonds, strong inter-dot coupling, and low permittivity. To conquer this challenge, we develop a multifunctional molecule passivation strategy utilizing 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (EMIMPF₆). The [PF₆]− anions coordinate with lead dangling bonds, cesium sites, and weaken coupling, while [EMIM]⁺ cations suppress bromine-related defects and inhibit Auger recombination, collectively reducing exciton quenching pathways. This treatment increases the photoluminescence quantum yield of QD films from 78% to 92% and enables spectrally high color purity blue emission at 472 nm (CIEy = 0.091). Crucially, the resulting devices deliver a record-high external quantum efficiency (EQE) exceeding 20% at 6441 cd m−² and maintain 18.47% EQE at 9587 cd m−² with nearly eliminated roll-off, representing the best performance to date for blue perovskite QLEDs (CIEy < 0.1). Moreover, the operational lifetime improves by an order of magnitude compared with previous reports.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ultrasonic sensors are widely used for object detection and localization in underwater and biological settings. The operational range and spatial resolution are inherently limited by sensor sensitivity, in which conventional piezoelectric transducers have been overwhelmed by advanced photonic sensors. Here, we demonstrate an optomechanical ultrasonic sensor integrated into a photonic platform, which comprises a suspended SiO2 membrane embedded with a high-Q Si3N4 microring resonator. By exploiting simultaneous optical and mechanical resonances, the sensor achieves a record low noise-equivalent pressure (NEP) of 218 nPa Hz−1/2 at 289 kHz in air and 9.6 nPa Hz−1/2 at 52 kHz in water. We demonstrate its versatility through photoacoustic gas spectroscopy in air and underwater ultrasound imaging, achieving a minimum detectable C2H2 concentration of 2.9 ppm (integration time 1 s) and an imaging resolution of 1.89 mm, respectively. Our work represents a significant advancement in compact CMOS-compatible ultrasound sensing, unlocking new possibilities in biomedical imaging, environmental monitoring, industrial testing, and underwater communications.
{"title":"Integrated optomechanical ultrasonic sensors with nano-Pascal-level sensitivity","authors":"Xuening Cao, Hao Yang, Min Wang, Zhi-Gang Hu, Zu-Lei Wu, Yuanlei Wang, Jian-Fei Liu, Xin Zhou, Jincheng Li, Chenghao Lao, Qi-Fan Yang, Bei-Bei Li","doi":"10.1038/s41377-026-02238-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02238-0","url":null,"abstract":"Ultrasonic sensors are widely used for object detection and localization in underwater and biological settings. The operational range and spatial resolution are inherently limited by sensor sensitivity, in which conventional piezoelectric transducers have been overwhelmed by advanced photonic sensors. Here, we demonstrate an optomechanical ultrasonic sensor integrated into a photonic platform, which comprises a suspended SiO2 membrane embedded with a high-Q Si3N4 microring resonator. By exploiting simultaneous optical and mechanical resonances, the sensor achieves a record low noise-equivalent pressure (NEP) of 218 nPa Hz−1/2 at 289 kHz in air and 9.6 nPa Hz−1/2 at 52 kHz in water. We demonstrate its versatility through photoacoustic gas spectroscopy in air and underwater ultrasound imaging, achieving a minimum detectable C2H2 concentration of 2.9 ppm (integration time 1 s) and an imaging resolution of 1.89 mm, respectively. Our work represents a significant advancement in compact CMOS-compatible ultrasound sensing, unlocking new possibilities in biomedical imaging, environmental monitoring, industrial testing, and underwater communications.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-16DOI: 10.1038/s41377-026-02241-5
Yunhui Gao, Liangcai Cao, Din Ping Tsai
Optical waves carry rich information in their spatial profiles and topological structures. Characterization of optical wavefronts is a key prerequisite in broad applications across fundamental research and industrial technologies. However, existing wavefront sensing techniques typically compromise between spatiotemporal resolution, compactness, and versatility. Here, we present Spatial And Fourier-domAin Regularized Inversion (SAFARI), a computational wavefront sensing approach that exploits the intrinsic physical properties such as smoothness to enable reliable reconstruction of complex wavefronts from a single exposure. Using a compact, diffuser-based wavefront sensor, we experimentally demonstrate single-shot, reference-less characterization of diverse complex wavefronts, including aberrations with up to 200 Zernike modes, structured beams carrying a topological charge of 150, and speckle fields containing more than 190,000 spatial modes. The proposed wavefront sensor offers high versatility while achieving performance comparable to or surpassing state-of-the-art task-specific solutions, making it a promising tool for coherent imaging and sensing at unprecedented resolution and complexity.
{"title":"Single-shot, reference-less computational wavefront sensing for complex optical fields","authors":"Yunhui Gao, Liangcai Cao, Din Ping Tsai","doi":"10.1038/s41377-026-02241-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02241-5","url":null,"abstract":"Optical waves carry rich information in their spatial profiles and topological structures. Characterization of optical wavefronts is a key prerequisite in broad applications across fundamental research and industrial technologies. However, existing wavefront sensing techniques typically compromise between spatiotemporal resolution, compactness, and versatility. Here, we present Spatial And Fourier-domAin Regularized Inversion (SAFARI), a computational wavefront sensing approach that exploits the intrinsic physical properties such as smoothness to enable reliable reconstruction of complex wavefronts from a single exposure. Using a compact, diffuser-based wavefront sensor, we experimentally demonstrate single-shot, reference-less characterization of diverse complex wavefronts, including aberrations with up to 200 Zernike modes, structured beams carrying a topological charge of 150, and speckle fields containing more than 190,000 spatial modes. The proposed wavefront sensor offers high versatility while achieving performance comparable to or surpassing state-of-the-art task-specific solutions, making it a promising tool for coherent imaging and sensing at unprecedented resolution and complexity.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147465577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-13DOI: 10.1038/s41377-026-02243-3
Quan Sheng,Jing-Ni Geng,Jia-Qi Jiang,Tian-Chang Liu,David James Spence,Helen Margaret Pask,Allam Srinivasa Rao,Takashige Omatsu,Shi-Jie Fu,Zhen-Xu Bai,Zhi-Wei Lv,Wei Shi,Jian-Quan Yao,Carmelo Rosales-Guzmán,Zhi-Han Zhu
Modern tunable lasers are indispensable instruments in fundamental science and optical frequency applications. With the growing interest in structured light, there's a need for tunable structured lasers with high transverse electromagnetic (TEM) modal purity across a broad spatial spectrum, but no commercial solutions exist. Here, we present the first tunable structured laser that can emit all possible single TEM modes with extremely high purity over a wide range. This is achieved by the collaborative use of intracavity pump geometry and astigmatic detuning to selectively gain a desired mode while blockading others. Our astigmatic oscillator can tunably generate any TEM mode within the spatial bandwidth, achieving over 40,000 orthogonal Hermite-Gauss modes in the experiment, and each can be further expanded into numerous Hermite-Laguerre-Gauss modes via unitary transformation. This approach does not require extra intracavity beam shaping components, offering a promising design for commercially available structured lasers with full spatial spectrum tunability.
{"title":"Tunable structured laser over full spatial spectrum.","authors":"Quan Sheng,Jing-Ni Geng,Jia-Qi Jiang,Tian-Chang Liu,David James Spence,Helen Margaret Pask,Allam Srinivasa Rao,Takashige Omatsu,Shi-Jie Fu,Zhen-Xu Bai,Zhi-Wei Lv,Wei Shi,Jian-Quan Yao,Carmelo Rosales-Guzmán,Zhi-Han Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s41377-026-02243-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02243-3","url":null,"abstract":"Modern tunable lasers are indispensable instruments in fundamental science and optical frequency applications. With the growing interest in structured light, there's a need for tunable structured lasers with high transverse electromagnetic (TEM) modal purity across a broad spatial spectrum, but no commercial solutions exist. Here, we present the first tunable structured laser that can emit all possible single TEM modes with extremely high purity over a wide range. This is achieved by the collaborative use of intracavity pump geometry and astigmatic detuning to selectively gain a desired mode while blockading others. Our astigmatic oscillator can tunably generate any TEM mode within the spatial bandwidth, achieving over 40,000 orthogonal Hermite-Gauss modes in the experiment, and each can be further expanded into numerous Hermite-Laguerre-Gauss modes via unitary transformation. This approach does not require extra intracavity beam shaping components, offering a promising design for commercially available structured lasers with full spatial spectrum tunability.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"57 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147439373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Simultaneous and continuous control over polarization and wavelength-two orthogonal and information-rich degrees of freedom-remains a central challenge in metasurface photonics, long hindered by intrinsic dispersion constraints and structural degeneracy. Here, we customize continuous polarization-wavelength mapping through a nonlocal metasurface platform that decouples birefringent evolution from structural dispersion. We achieve programmable, spectrally resolved polarization shaping across the broadband mid-infrared regime by introducing an equivalent nonlocal Jones matrix formalism and a dimension-interlaced vectorial diffraction neural network. This framework enables fully continuous and arbitrarily prescribed mapping across the joint polarization-wavelength space-beyond the capabilities of segmented or interleaved metasurface designs. We experimentally demonstrate non-degenerate multicolor vectorial holography, broadband achromatic imaging, and arbitrary elliptical polarization multiplexing with high fidelity and minimal crosstalk, maintaining strong channel isolation. Our results establish a scalable route toward continuous-domain photonic encoding, offering a powerful foundation for ultracompact optical communication, vectorial information encryption, and high-dimensional light-field processing.
{"title":"Continuous polarization-wavelength mapping with nonlocal metasurfaces.","authors":"Jiuxu Wang,Jie Wang,Feilong Yu,Jin Chen,Rongsheng Chen,Tianxiong Geng,Rong Jin,Yiran Zhou,Tongwen Zheng,Guanhai Li,Xiaoshuang Chen,Wei Lu","doi":"10.1038/s41377-026-02233-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02233-5","url":null,"abstract":"Simultaneous and continuous control over polarization and wavelength-two orthogonal and information-rich degrees of freedom-remains a central challenge in metasurface photonics, long hindered by intrinsic dispersion constraints and structural degeneracy. Here, we customize continuous polarization-wavelength mapping through a nonlocal metasurface platform that decouples birefringent evolution from structural dispersion. We achieve programmable, spectrally resolved polarization shaping across the broadband mid-infrared regime by introducing an equivalent nonlocal Jones matrix formalism and a dimension-interlaced vectorial diffraction neural network. This framework enables fully continuous and arbitrarily prescribed mapping across the joint polarization-wavelength space-beyond the capabilities of segmented or interleaved metasurface designs. We experimentally demonstrate non-degenerate multicolor vectorial holography, broadband achromatic imaging, and arbitrary elliptical polarization multiplexing with high fidelity and minimal crosstalk, maintaining strong channel isolation. Our results establish a scalable route toward continuous-domain photonic encoding, offering a powerful foundation for ultracompact optical communication, vectorial information encryption, and high-dimensional light-field processing.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147439371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-13DOI: 10.1038/s41377-026-02240-6
Kieran Hymas,Jack B Muir,Daniel Tibben,Joel van Embden,Tadahiko Hirai,Christopher J Dunn,Daniel E Gómez,James A Hutchison,Trevor A Smith,James Q Quach
Superextensivity, where the response of a physical system scales super-linearly with size, originates from collective quantum effects and provides a promising route to augment next-generation quantum technologies. While recent work has demonstrated superextensive behaviour in the coherent dynamics of quantum systems, these effects typically occur on short timescales, prohibiting their practical utility. In contrast, triggering steady-state superextensive effects in, for example, a generated electric current, remains unexplored despite the immediate impact on photovoltaic technologies. Here, we utilise a microcavity quantum battery as an experimental platform that superextensively captures light energy and converts it to an electric current via the incorporation of charge transport layers into the resonant microcavity. This architecture enables, for the first time, a complete quantum battery charge-discharge cycle. We demonstrate that strong light-matter coupling induced by the microcavity leads to superextensive scaling of the steady-state electrical discharging power under low-intensity, incoherent illumination. Our results provide the first experimental demonstration of superextensive light-to-charge conversion in steady-state, highlighting the feasibility of leveraging strong light-matter coupling for enhanced energy harvesting under low-light conditions.
{"title":"Superextensive electrical power from a quantum battery.","authors":"Kieran Hymas,Jack B Muir,Daniel Tibben,Joel van Embden,Tadahiko Hirai,Christopher J Dunn,Daniel E Gómez,James A Hutchison,Trevor A Smith,James Q Quach","doi":"10.1038/s41377-026-02240-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02240-6","url":null,"abstract":"Superextensivity, where the response of a physical system scales super-linearly with size, originates from collective quantum effects and provides a promising route to augment next-generation quantum technologies. While recent work has demonstrated superextensive behaviour in the coherent dynamics of quantum systems, these effects typically occur on short timescales, prohibiting their practical utility. In contrast, triggering steady-state superextensive effects in, for example, a generated electric current, remains unexplored despite the immediate impact on photovoltaic technologies. Here, we utilise a microcavity quantum battery as an experimental platform that superextensively captures light energy and converts it to an electric current via the incorporation of charge transport layers into the resonant microcavity. This architecture enables, for the first time, a complete quantum battery charge-discharge cycle. We demonstrate that strong light-matter coupling induced by the microcavity leads to superextensive scaling of the steady-state electrical discharging power under low-intensity, incoherent illumination. Our results provide the first experimental demonstration of superextensive light-to-charge conversion in steady-state, highlighting the feasibility of leveraging strong light-matter coupling for enhanced energy harvesting under low-light conditions.","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"234 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147439370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-03-12DOI: 10.1038/s41377-026-02194-9
Kang Li, Guofeng Yan, Kangrui Wang, Chengkun Cai, Min Yang, Guangze Wu, Weike Zhao, Yingying Peng, Yaocheng Shi, Daoxin Dai, Jian Wang
Optical communications have emerged as a promising solution for high-speed modern communication systems and built an important infrastructure for the global information superhighway. Although recent efforts to enhance optical communications have penetrated from long-distance fiber-optic to ultra-short-reach chip-scale data transmission, “Trans-Scale” high-capacity data transmission remains great challenges. In addition to data transmission, data processing is also of great importance for flexible data management in optical communication systems. However, a “Digital Divide” (capacity gap) exists between high-capacity data transmission in fiber links and low-speed data processing at network nodes, hindering the flourishing development of optical communications. Here, we implement “Trans-Scale” high-capacity bridging between few-mode fiber and silicon multimode waveguide using a diverse hybrid integrated coupler, which includes a 3D silica fs-laser direct writing photonic chip and a 2D silicon photonic integrated circuit. On this basis, we leverage a large-scale silicon reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) with over 2000 elements to construct a multi-dimensional fiber-chip system, enabling 192-channel (3 modes, 2 polarizations, 32 wavelengths) and 20-Tbit/s trans-scale multi-dimensional data transmission and processing. This demonstration provides a superior trans-scale architecture for multi-dimensional data transmission and processing in next-generation optical communications.
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