Celebrating International Day of Light 2022

The International Day of Light is a global initiative that provides an annual focal point for the continued appreciation of light and the role it plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy. The broad theme of light will allow many different sectors of society worldwide to participate in activities that demonstrates how science, technology, art and culture can help achieve the goals of UNESCO – education, equality, and peace.

May 16 is the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by physicist and engineer, Theodore Maiman. The laser is a perfect example of how a scientific discovery can yield revolutionary benefits to society in communications, healthcare and many other fields.

In honor of the International Day of Light, Editor-in-Chief Professor Romain Quidant (ETH Zürich) has selected outstanding contributions in quantum photonics, biophotonics, nanophotonics, imaging, devices and energy, published in ACS Photonics.

Quantum Photonics

Quantum Nanophotonics in Two-Dimensional Materials

Machine Learning for Integrated Quantum Photonics

Femtosecond Laser Writing of Spin Defects in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

On-Demand Generation of Entangled Photon Pairs in the Telecom C-Band with InAs Quantum Dots

Biophotonics

Dielectric Metasurfaces Enabling Advanced Optical Biosensors

Resolving the Sequence of RNA Strands by Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Dual Nanoresonators for Ultrasensitive Chiral Detection

Comparing Transient Oligonucleotide Hybridization Kinetics Using DNA-PAINT and Optoplasmonic Single-Molecule Sensing on Gold Nanorods

Imaging

Terahertz Scanning Tunneling Microscopy for Visualizing Ultrafast Electron Motion in Nanoscale Potential Variations

Single-Shot Autofocusing of Microscopy Images Using Deep Learning

3D Imaging Using Extreme Dispersion in Optical Metasurfaces

Metasurface Optical Characterization Using Quadriwave Lateral Shearing Interferometry

Devices

Nonlinear Optics in Lead Halide Perovskites: Mechanisms and Applications

Ultrahigh Deep-Ultraviolet Responsivity of a β-Ga2O3/MgO Heterostructure-Based Phototransistor

Bi2Se3-Functionalized Metasurfaces for Ultrafast All-Optical Switching and Efficient Modulation of Terahertz Waves

Robust Mode Matching between Structurally Dissimilar Optical Fiber Waveguides

Energy

Photonics for Photovoltaics: Advances and Opportunities

Light Propagation and Radiative Exciton Transport in Two-Dimensional Layered Perovskite Microwires

Violating Kirchhoff’s Law of Thermal Radiation in Semitransparent Structures

Nighttime Radiative Cooling for Water Harvesting from Solar Panels

Nanophotonics

Nanophotonic Structural Colors

Dielectric Resonant Metaphotonics

Steering and Encoding the Polarization of the Second Harmonic in the Visible with a Monolithic LiNbO3 Metasurface

Enhanced Nonlinear Optical Responses of Layered Epsilon-near-Zero Metamaterials at Visible Frequencies

About the Journal

ACS Photonics is an interdisciplinary forum to communicate on the latest advances in the field of photonics, all the way from basic research to applied research and technology. Embracing the transversality of photonics, it connects scientists and technologists from a broad scientific spectrum, at the interface between physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. It also aims at bridging the gap between the academic and industrial worlds.

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