Spotlight on Optics

Highlighted Articles from Optica Publishing Group Journals

February 2023

Spotlight Summary by Galan Moody
- On-chip generation of hybrid polarization-frequency entangled biphoton states
- Hybrid entangled states composed of multiple degrees of freedom may improve the transmission and conversion of quantum information for communications and computing. In this paper, Francesconi et al. demonstrate...
- Photon. Res. 11(2) 270-278 (2023) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by James P. McGilligan
- Microfabricated strontium atomic vapor cells
- The transition from alkali atoms to alkaline earth atoms in microfabricated vapor cells offers alluring opportunities for optical metrology at the chip-scale. However, to compensate for the relatively low vapor density...
- Opt. Lett. 48(2) 383-386 (2023) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Miguel González Herráez
- 10-cm spatial resolution distributed acoustic sensor based on an ultra low-loss enhanced backscattering fiber
- Enhancing the backscattering efficiency of an optical fiber over a broad wavelength range without increasing its losses is indeed a difficult - yet possible - task. Dr. Ali Masoudi et al. from the University of...
- Opt. Continuum 1(9) 2002-2010 (2022) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Weiren Zhu
- Optically transparent graphene-based cognitive metasurface for adaptive frequency manipulation
- Active microwave absorbers with self-supervised adaptive frequency regulation and optical transparency are of great significance for applications such as self-adapting electromagnetic stealth and energy harvesting for...
- Photon. Res. 11(1) 129-136 (2023) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Alexander Heidt
- Broadband gain performance in the mid-IR using supercontinuum: 2.7 µm gain in high-purity Er3+doped tungsten tellurite glass fibers
- Light in the mid-infrared spectral region holds many promises: molecular fingerprinting, remote sensing, eye-safe lidars or deep-tissue medical imaging are just some of the keywords that are often cited. Yet developing...
- Appl. Opt. 61(32) 9701-9707 (2022) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by James P. McGilligan
- Microfabricated strontium atomic vapor cells
- The transition from alkali atoms to alkaline earth atoms in microfabricated vapor cells offers alluring opportunities for optical metrology at the chip-scale. However, to compensate for the relatively low vapor density...
- Opt. Lett. 48(2) 383-386 (2023) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Oriol Arteaga
- Wave description of geometric phase
- The geometric phase has gained a prominent role in optical science applications and it is sometimes regarded as having an exotic character. However, its physical origin is simple and can be derived from the...
- J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 40(2) 388-396 (2023) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Miguel González Herráez
- 10-cm spatial resolution distributed acoustic sensor based on an ultra low-loss enhanced backscattering fiber
- Enhancing the backscattering efficiency of an optical fiber over a broad wavelength range without increasing its losses is indeed a difficult - yet possible - task. Dr. Ali Masoudi et al. from the University of...
- Opt. Continuum 1(9) 2002-2010 (2022) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Sebastian Deffner
- Quantum signatures in a quadratic optomechanical heat engine with an atom in a tapered trap
- When does a single ion engine become truly quantum? Izadyari et al. say that cooling down is not enough. In 2016, the first experimental realization of a heat engine working with a single ion was reported. This engine...
- J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 39(12) 3247-3254 (2022) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Pierre-Jean Lapray
- Folded beam path architecture for highly efficient filter-based spectral sensors
- Filter-based spectrometers lack efficiency due to their high spectral selectivity filters, which cut off most of the incident light intensity before reaching the light detector. This may limit applications with fast...
- Appl. Opt. 61(33) 9996-10001 (2022) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Alexander Heidt
- Broadband gain performance in the mid-IR using supercontinuum: 2.7 µm gain in high-purity Er3+doped tungsten tellurite glass fibers
- Light in the mid-infrared spectral region holds many promises: molecular fingerprinting, remote sensing, eye-safe lidars or deep-tissue medical imaging are just some of the keywords that are often cited. Yet developing...
- Appl. Opt. 61(32) 9701-9707 (2022) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF