April 2012 Volume 6, Issue 4

Editorial

Thriving in your career p203
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.81
Being open and adaptable to change can help you succeed in your career of choice.
Full Text | PDF

Correspondence

Solitons in semiconductor microcavities p204
S. Barland, M. Giudici, G. Tissoni, J. R. Tredicce, M. Brambilla, L. Lugiato, F. Prati, S. Barbay, R. Kuszelewicz, T. Ackemann, W. J. Firth and G.-L. Oppo
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.50
Full Text | PDF

Solitons in semiconductor microcavities p204
D. V. Skryabin, D. N. Krizhanovskii, M. S. Skolnick, E. A. Cerda-Méndez and R. Hartley
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.51
Full Text | PDF

The behaviour of exciton-polaritons p205
Benoít Deveaud-Plédran
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.52
Full Text | PDF

Commentaries

Myths and rumours of silicon photonics pp206 - 208
Tom Baehr-Jones, Thierry Pinguet, Patrick Lo Guo-Qiang, Steven Danziger, Dennis Prather and Michael Hochberg
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.66
Low-cost manufacturing, high yields and seamless on-chip integration with electronics are often touted as the guaranteed benefits of silicon photonics, but is this really the case? Michael Hochberg and colleagues explain that the situation is much more complex in reality.
Full Text | PDF

Fractal optics and beyond pp209 - 210
Mordechai Segev, Marin Soljačić and John M. Dudley
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.71
Fractals, shapes comprised of self-similar parts, are not merely prescribed linear structures. A wide class of fractals can also arise from the rich dynamics inherent to nonlinear optics.
Full Text | PDF

Books and Arts

New titles at a glance p211
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.53
Full Text | PDF

Research Highlights

Neurophotonics: Quantum-dot control | Semiconductor lasers: Pushing the mid-infrared | X-rays: Inner-shell atom laser | Excitons: Nanotube answer | Optical clocks: Stable transfer | Nanophotonics: Circuit design | Optomechanics: Quantum motion | Quantum cascade lasers: Chasing room temperature | Quantum communication: Frequency conversion

News and Views

Correction

Correction p223
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.77
Full Text | PDF

Letters

Observation of eight-photon entanglement pp225 - 228
Xing-Can Yao, Tian-Xiong Wang, Ping Xu, He Lu, Ge-Sheng Pan, Xiao-Hui Bao, Cheng-Zhi Peng, Chao-Yang Lu, Yu-Ao Chen and Jian-Wei Pan
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2011.354
Researchers demonstrate the creation of an eight-photon Schrodinger-cat state with genuine multipartite entanglement by developing noise-reduction multiphoton interferometer and post-selection detection. The ability to control eight individual photons will enable new multiphoton entanglement experiments in previously inaccessible parameter regimes.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Microfluidic directional emission control of an azimuthally polarized radial fibre laser pp229 - 233
Alexander M. Stolyarov, Lei Wei, Ofer Shapira, Fabien Sorin, Song L. Chua, John D. Joannopoulos and Yoel Fink
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.24
Researchers realize a zero-angular-momentum radial-emission laser by filling a cylindrical photonic crystal fibre cavity with a microfluidic gain medium. Control of the electromagnetic fields is provided by electrically contacted and independently addressable liquid-crystal microchannels in the fibre.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Fotiadi & Mégret

Heralded quantum entanglement between two crystals pp234 - 237
Imam Usmani, Christoph Clausen, Félix Bussieres, Nicolas Sangouard, Mikael Afzelius and Nicolas Gisin
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.34
Researchers observe heralded entanglement between two neodymium ensembles doped in Nd³⁺:Y₂SiO₅ crystals separated by 1.3 cm. The high level of interference indicates that the stored entanglement does not significantly decohere over a period of 33 ns. They demonstrate that rare-earth-ion ensembles have the potential to form compact, stable and coherent quantum network nodes.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF
See also: News and Views by Olmschenk

Cascaded single-photon emission from the Mollow triplet sidebands of a quantum dot pp238 - 242
A. Ulhaq, S. Weiler, S. M. Ulrich, R. Roszbach, M. Jetter and P. Michler
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.23
Researchers demonstrate that an individual Mollow sideband channel of the resonance fluorescence from an InGaAs quantum dot can act as an efficient single-photon source. The central frequency of the bright and narrow sideband emission can be changed by laser detuning over a range spanning 15 times the emission linewidth.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Frequency comb generation at terahertz frequencies by coherent phonon excitation in silicon pp243 - 247
Muneaki Hase, Masayuki Katsuragawa, Anca Monia Constantinescu and Hrvoje Petek
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.35
By exciting few-cycle femtosecond laser pulses at 397 nm in near-resonance with the direct bandgap of silicon, researchers experimentally demonstrate coherent phonon generation in silicon at a fundamental frequency of 15.6 THz and all-optical >100 THz frequency comb generation.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Articles

Ultralow-power all-optical RAM based on nanocavities pp248 - 252
Kengo Nozaki, Akihiko Shinya, Shinji Matsuo, Yasumasa Suzaki, Toru Segawa, Tomonari Sato, Yoshihiro Kawaguchi, Ryo Takahashi and Masaya Notomi
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.2
Using photonic crystal cavities with a buried heterostructure design, scientists demonstrate all-optical RAM at power levels 300 times lower than previous attempts. The 30 nW devices could enable low-power large-scale optical RAM systems for handling high-bit-rate optical signals.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Organic light-emitting diodes employing efficient reverse intersystem crossing for triplet-to-singlet state conversion pp253 - 258
Kenichi Goushi, Kou Yoshida, Keigo Sato and Chihaya Adachi
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.31
High-efficiency fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes have been realized by employing custom-designed molecules that make it possible to convert non-radiative triplet states into radiative singlet states.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

A comparison of graphene, superconductors and metals as conductors for metamaterials and plasmonics pp259 - 264
Philippe Tassin, Thomas Koschny, Maria Kafesaki and Costas M. Soukoulis
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.27
Researchers consider electromagnetic dissipation in metamaterials and plasmonic systems comprised of various materials. They predict that graphene and high-temperature superconductors may not be suitable for practical resonant metamaterial applications and are unlikely to outperform conventional metals in plasmonics. Transition metals, alkali metals and transparent conducting oxides are also discussed.
Abstract | Full Text | PDF
See also: Interview with Philippe Tassin

Interview

Conductors for optics p266
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2012.67
New research suggests that graphene is not a 'miracle material' for metamaterials and plasmonics. Nature Photonics spoke to Philippe Tassin about what makes a good conductor for these applications.
Full Text | PDF