nanophotonics tagged posts

Researchers develop Next-Generation Cooling Material to Increase Summer Cooling Efficiency Without Electricity

Radiation-cooling liquid crystal materials, a partner to the king of summer, air conditioning
(Left) Schematic depicting the molecular arrangement and light-matter interaction in the cooling material: a photonic crystal based on spiral liquid crystals. (Right) Actual photographs of the materials in a variety of colors. Full-domain color is achieved by controlling the amount of additives (i.e., chiral dopants). Credit: Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Dr. Jin Gu, Kang and his team at the Nanophotonics Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed a colorful radiation-cooling liquid crystal material that can cool without external power while simultaneously emitting color. The work is published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.

Radiative cooling is a powerless cooling technology that releases infrared radiation as heat throug...

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Photonics Team develops High-performance Ultrafast Lasers that Fit on a Fingertip

ultrafast mode-locked laser on a chip
Chip scale, ultrafast mode-locked laser based on nanophotonic lithium niobate.

CREDIT
Alireza Marandi

Lasers are essential tools for observing, detecting, and measuring things in the natural world that we can’t see with the naked eye. But the ability to perform these tasks is often restricted by the need to use expensive and large instruments.

In a newly published cover-story paper in the journal Science, researcher Qiushi Guo demonstrates a novel approach for creating high-performance ultrafast lasers on nanophotonic chips. His work centers on miniaturizing mode-lock lasers—a unique laser that emits a train of ultrashort, coherent light pulses in femtosecond intervals, which is an astonishing quadrillionth of a second.

Ultrafast mode-locked lasers are indispensable to unlocking ...

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A Nanoantenna for Long-Distance, Ultra-Secure Communication

 Conceptual illustration of efficient illumination of photons to semiconductor lateral quantum dots, by using a surface plasmon antenna and excitation of electrons in the quantum dots. (credit: copyright @ 2021 Oiwa lab. All Rights Reserved)

Researchers have improved the transfer efficiency between quantum information carriers, in a manner that’s based on well-established nanoscience and is compatible with upcoming advanced communication technologies.

Information storage and transfer in the manner of simple ones and zeros — as in today’s classical computer technologies — is insufficient for quantum technologies under development. Now, researchers from Japan have fabricated a nanoantenna that will help bring quantum information networks closer to practical use.

In a study recently...

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