News & Comment

Andrew M. Weiner, a luminary in ultrafast optics and quantum photonics passed away on February 13, 2024, at the age of 65. He will be remembered for his profound contributions to the optics and photonics community, engineering, education, and for his devoted mentorship. He leaves behind a legacy of innovation and inspiration.

A ring laser gyroscope, located at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell in Southern Germany, measures variations in the Earth’s rotation. Nature Photonics spoke to a key researcher on the project, Ulrich Schreiber, about the system’s birth, teething issues, and how it may one day probe the El Niño effect.

Nature Photonics spoke with Rüdiger Paschotta, the founder of RP Photonics, about his online encyclopedia of photonics, the motivation behind it and future plans for the project.

Photonic processors are promising candidates for solving tough mathematical problems. Nature Photonics asked Yoshihisa Yamamoto, director of the Physics and Informatics Laboratories at NTT Research in USA, about the progress that is being made in realizing coherent Ising machines (CIMs).

Vladimir Zakharov was a man of a strong passion and grand intellect, who was equally and deservedly proud of both his scientific achievements and his poetry.

We posit that inconsistent interpretations of experimental data have led to inaccurate claims on metalens focusing efficiencies. By performing a meta-analysis, we show that extraordinary claims of high focusing efficiency at high numerical apertures are, unfortunately, not yet backed by rigorous simulation or experimental results.

The 2023 Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry have been awarded to important discoveries and developments in photonics-related research.

Allen Weeks, Director General of the Extreme Light Infrastructure European Research Infrastructure Consortium, talks to Nature Photonics about the founding and future of the high-power-laser facilities, and stimulating a resurgence of physics in new EU member countries.

Light sheet microscopy offers rapid 3D imaging of biological specimens while limiting photodamage. Nature Photonics spoke with Elizabeth Hillman of Columbia University about its capabilities, promising applications and present limitations.

Mansoor Sheik-Bahae, an exceptionally inventive scientist who made important contributions to nonlinear optics, optical refrigeration and laser science, passed away in July 2023, aged 67. He will be cherished for his sharp intellect, good humour, warm heart and the scientific legacy he leaves.

Activity in using photonics for subsea wireless communications and power generation is starting to make waves.

Optics is now going beneath the waves to give remote-operated vehicles and divers fast optical wireless data links. Nature Photonics spoke with Boon Ooi from KAUST, a leading researcher into underwater photonics research.

Benjamin Palmer from Ben-Gurion University in Israel talks to Nature Photonics about the intriguing optical properties found in molecular crystals in the living world. His latest paper on the topic can be found in this issue.

Nature Photonics spoke to Hongjie Dai from Stanford University about bioimaging in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) spectral window and its clinical potential.

In recent decades, progress in developing better nonlinear materials has not been as rapid as wished. Here I propose that this may be explained by considering the simple view of nonlinear optical phenomena as being determined mostly by the length of interaction time between photons and matter. Tentative routes towards improvements in the efficiency of nonlinear optical phenomena are suggested.

Nature Photonics has now integrated the Figshare data repository into its submission system.

Nature Photonics talks to Mark Hahnel, the founder and CEO of Figshare, a popular data repository, about the benefits and trends in making data open and shareable.

Mordechai (Moti) Segev spoke with Nature Photonics about the fascinating topic of photonic time crystals — materials with a refractive index that is periodically modulated in time on ultrafast timescales — and their inspiring future ahead.