Spotlight on Optics

Highlighted Articles from Optica Publishing Group Journals

March 2016

Spotlight Summary by Roarke Horstmeyer
- Rank-based camera spectral sensitivity estimation
- Should I filter that picture using the “noir” or the “instant” look? It is increasingly important to get the color just right in our digital images — or at least it appears to be so for most Instagram users. However, it...
- J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 33(4) 589-599 (2016) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Francesco Morichetti
- Freeform three-dimensional embedded polymer waveguides enabled by external-diffusion assisted two-photon lithography
- High-index contrast waveguides now go 3D on a photonic chip.
  One of the main limits of planar lightwave circuits is that they are… planar indeed! Giving optical waveguides a third dimension would offer more...
- Appl. Opt. 55(8) 1906-1912 (2016) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Filippo Miatto
- Coupled orbital angular momentum conversions in a quasi-periodically poled LiTaO3 crystal
- The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light is a tool that has numerous promising applications, ranging from quantum sensing, quantum communication and realizations of quantum information protocols. In order to produce...
- Opt. Lett. 41(6) 1169-1172 (2016) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Brynmor Davis
- Ptychographic reconstruction of attosecond pulses
- The fastest pulses of light can be painfully slow to measure, but a new technique promises to make it easier. Over the last decade it has become increasingly common to generate and measure optical pulses lasting only...
- Opt. Express 23(23) 29502-29513 (2015) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Jean-Baptiste Masson
- Probing low-density carriers in a single atomic layer using terahertz parallel-plate waveguides
- 2D materials such as graphene, a planar sheet of carbon molecules arranged in a honeycomb lattice, exhibit interesting properties that open new applications in electronics and optoelectronics. Probing the electronic...
- Opt. Express 24(4) 3885-3893 (2016) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Richard Bownman
- Nanoparticle-polymer composite volume holographic gratings dispersed with ultrahigh-refractive-index hyperbranched polymer as organic nanoparticles
- Volume holograms are tremendously versatile optical components, with uses as diverse as head-mounted displays, narrowband filters, and high density data storage. They are made by exposing a thick film of material to an...
- Opt. Lett. 41(6) 1281-1284 (2016) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Kedar Khare
- Nondiffracting Bessel beams with polarization state that varies with propagation distance
- The term “non-diffracting Bessel beam” refers to a specially engineered optical beam that does not change its intensity profile on propagation. This idea is somewhat counterintuitive as most optical beams are expected...
- Opt. Lett. 40(23) 5451-5454 (2015) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Brad Deutsch
- Effective light absorption and its enhancement factor for silicon nanowire-based solar cell
- Practically every solar cell has an anti-reflective coating, since the fewer photons that bounce off of the surface, the more of them can be converted into stored electrical charges. Scientists have recently found that...
- Appl. Opt. 55(1) 117-121 (2016) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF

Spotlight Summary by Shui-Qing Yu
- Study of GeSn based heterostructures: towards optimized group IV MQW LEDs
- Silicon-based lasers have long been desired owing to the possibility of monolithic integration of Si-based photonics with high-speed Si-based electronics. An optically pumped laser based on direct bandgap GeSn grown on...
- Opt. Express 24(2) 1358-1367 (2016) View: Abstract | HTML | PDF