Papers

We present an oscillator-driven femtosecond transient microspectroscopy system based on supercontinuum generation in a photonic crystal fiber (PCF). The system operates at 80 MHz without pulse amplification, enabling high-sensitivity measurements with a detection sensitivity better than $10^{-4}$ while using low pulse energies suitable for microspectroscopy. Optimization of the PCF length ($\leq 50$ mm) suppresses dispersion-induced chirp, achieving nearly uniform temporal resolution below 100 fs across 450-900 nm. The high-repetition-rate operation allows rapid spectral acquisition and efficient noise reduction. The developed system provides micrometer-scale spatial resolution and supports both reflection and transmission configurations. Ultrafast carrier dynamics in multilayer and monolayer MoS$_2$ are successfully resolved, including spatially dependent relaxation within a single monolayer flake. These results demonstrate a versatile platform for probing local ultrafast dynamics in low-dimensional materials.

Adaptive optics systems operating under low-flux conditions face significant challenges, as photon and detector noise in particular degrade wavefront measurements and ultimately limit correction performance. While pyramid wavefront sensors (PyWFSs) offer greater sensitivity than conventional wavefront sensors such as the Shack-Hartmann sensor in many operating regimes, obtaining accurate wavefront estimates under photon-starved conditions remains a key challenge. We present a full-frame image denoising strategy for the PyWFS that exploits the nonlocal self-similarity of wavefront sensor image patches through FFT-accelerated patch grouping and global collaborative 3D wavelet filtering, applied directly to the raw PyWFS intensity frame prior to slope computation. Specifically, the method suppresses noise while preserving structural features required for accurate wavefront reconstruction. The approach is evaluated using end-to-end simulations of a VLT-scale SCAO system. The results show improved performance in low signal-to-noise regimes, with typical Strehl ratio gains of up to 12% and an increase in limiting magnitude of approximately 0.5 in median seeing conditions. Modal analysis indicates reduced variance across most controlled modes. The improved PSF quality enables a reduction in the FWHM and an enhanced contrast. These results demonstrate that image-domain denoising can improve the robustness of PyWFS-based AO systems and extend their operational range toward fainter guide stars.

The conventional paradigm of computational imaging, rooted in Hermitian systems, is fundamentally constrained by rigid orthogonal basis transformations, which bottleneck the balance between reconstruction fidelity, computational load, and physical-layer security. In this work, we propose a generalized secure computational imaging framework based on non-Hermitian biorthogonal symmetry breaking. By mapping spatial information into a biorthogonal operator space, we establish an asymmetric sensing architecture governed by distinct left-basis $\langle\phi_{m}\vert{}$ and right-basis $\vert{}\psi_{n}\rangle$ modes, satisfying the biorthogonality relation $\langle\phi_{m}\vert{}\psi_{n}\rangle = \delta_{mn}$. Within this manifold, precise tuning of the non-Hermitian parameter $\gamma$ establishes a physical-layer cryptographic gate, where high-fidelity retrieval is exclusively enabled by matching the dual basis; any parameter mismatch triggers deterministic inter-modal crosstalk that effectively neutralizes unauthorized access. Notably, this architecture intrinsically supports direct, iteration-free image retrieval across a wide range of sampling ratios, significantly reducing the computational overhead compared to conventional iterative reconstruction. We validate this framework on a single-pixel imaging platform, demonstrating a fundamental paradigm shift: by embedding security directly into the measurement physics, we transform image retrieval from a software-dependent task into a parameter-sensitive physical decryption process that ensures architecture-intrinsic confidentiality.

A weakly nonlinear regime of radial tunneling is theoretically considered for a light wave in a spherical dielectric Bragg resonator containing a set of “shell” eigenmodes (both TE and TM) with different azimuthal numbers $l\geqslant 1$, which are concentrated near a defect of the Bragg structure, several layers away from the origin. Also, a single mixed radial mode with $l=1$ is located near the resonator center, either TM or TE. Nonlinearity of Kerr type in the main approximation is actual for the central mode only, while all the shell modes remain in the linear regime. The tunneling occurs between the central mode and the shell $l=1$ mode of the same symmetry. Nontrivial part of the dynamics of optical field is described by a Hamiltonian system of ordinary differential equations for complex vectors ${\bf C}_{1}(t)$ and ${\bf C}_{2}(t)$, which determine the magnitude and spatial orientation of the wave structures at the center and at the shell, respectively. Depending on “asymmetry parameter” of tunnel coupling, the system demonstrates different variants of nonlinear behavior.

Light-hole (LH) excitons provide access to well-defined polarization and spin degrees of freedom that are central to quantum photonics and chiral light-matter interactions. Achieving LH emission is challenging because LH states are energetically unfavoured and typically relax non-radiatively. Existing strategies to access LH excitons rely on modifying the electronic band structure through strain, shape anisotropy, or piezoelectric fields, approaches that are material-specific and offer limited post-synthesis tunability. Here we demonstrate an all-photonic route to activate LH exciton emission in colloidal CdSe-CdS nanoplatelets (NPLs) using a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) cavity, without altering the underlying band structure. In the absence of a cavity mode, the system exhibits amplified spontaneous emission from heavy-hole (HH) states without detectable LH emission at low excitation powers. By spectrally matching a cavity resonance to the LH exciton, cavity-coupled LH emission emerges at significantly lower excitation powers. Temperature-dependent spectroscopy reveals reversible switching between LH- and HH-coupled emission through exciton-cavity detuning, while polarization-resolved and spectrally resolved time-resolved photoluminescence measurements provide independent evidence distinguishing the cavity-coupled LH and HH emission channels. These findings establish cavity engineering as a general materials-level approach for accessing radiatively suppressed optical states.

Imaging the mechanical properties of biological tissues in vivo with high spatial and temporal resolution is essential for understanding physiological function and disease progression. Optical coherence elastography (OCE) provides label-free, micrometer-scale mapping of tissue biomechanics, but its application to dynamic and volumetric measurements has been limited by slow acquisition speeds and susceptibility to motion artifacts. Here we introduce ultrafast optical coherence elastography (ultrafast OCE), a general framework for real-time volumetric biomechanical imaging in vivo. By combining synchronized multi-phase acquisition with a demodulation strategy intrinsically robust to spectral aliasing, ultrafast OCE decouples mechanical excitation from acquisition speed, enabling reconstruction of full wave fields from only three sequential B-mode images. The method achieves frame rates up to two orders of magnitude higher than conventional approaches while preserving high sensitivity over frequencies ranging from the acoustic to ultrasonic regimes. We further develop a motion-correction strategy that compensates for bulk tissue motion under physiological conditions. We validate ultrafast OCE in dynamically stretched phantoms and pulsatile arteries and demonstrate sub-second volumetric imaging of the cornea and skin in vivo. Ultrafast OCE enables real-time interrogation of tissue biomechanics across space and time, opening new opportunities for mechanobiology, cardiovascular research, and clinical diagnostics.

Light-field microscopy enables snapshot volumetric imaging, but its information rate is constrained by both optical encoding and detector readout architecture. Here we develop a task-dependent Fisher-information framework that evaluates optical encoders relative to the detector resource limiting acquisition throughput. We compare full Fourier light-field microscopy (FLFM), squeezed light-field microscopy (SLIM), and frame-rate-matched FLFM under a common optical geometry, photon budget, and row-limited camera model. Sparse scenes are analyzed using a 3D point-emitter Fisher matrix, and dense scenes using Fourier-mode information on tilted spectral slices. At s=0.25, SLIM provides 2.40x higher axial Fisher information per camera bandwidth and 1.89x higher 3D D-optimal position information than frame-rate-matched FLFM. For dense scenes, it provides 1.85x higher integrated Fourier-mode Fisher information per bandwidth, 4x greater axial-frequency extent, and approximately 11x larger projected lateral hard-support area. Sweeps over compression factor and view tilt show that these advantages reflect a general detector-allocation principle rather than a specific operating point. More broadly, the framework can be adapted to other camera architectures by incorporating architecture-specific measurement models and detector-throughput costs, providing a general basis for co-designing optical encoding, scene statistics, and camera readout.

Nonlinear multiphoton conversion processes are theoretically and experimentally challenging systems in quantum optics and related areas. These phenomena bring remarkable quantum properties and can be of fundamental relevance in quantum information and computation applications. Based on recent experimental advances and the possible uses in generalized three-photon squeezing, we investigate degenerate three-photon parametric down-conversion generated inside a cavity fed by a classical pump. In addition, we consider that the process is stimulated by a coherent driving mode and subjected to dissipation by spontaneous emission of the cavity. A treatment using phase-space methods and stochastic differential equations is applied and the stability conditions of its steady states are found. We find that the system does not exhibit multistability, instead it has a limited parameter region leading to a single stable steady branch, alongside multiple unstable branches. Focusing on the stable steady states and linearizing the dynamics around them, we calculate the spectral densities of the quadrature variables. We identify and characterize the squeezing of three-photon down-conversion. Moreover, since the quasi-probability differential equations of the higher-order multiphoton processes have higher-order derivatives, hindering their mapping into stochastic differential equations, we make use of a positive Wigner function approach to calculate two-dimensional spectral densities associated with three-time correlation functions, with the goal of studying non-Gaussian properties of the system.

The inner filter effect (IFE) transforms the nominally linear fluorescence-concentration relationship into a geometry-dependent and often nonmonotonic response, resulting in reduced sensitivity, concentration ambiguity, and inaccurate underestimation at high optical densities. Here, we introduce a spatially encoded multireceiver fluorometric strategy that does not eliminate or correct the IFE, but instead harnesses the spatial fluorescence attenuation induced by IFE as an additional quantitative encoding dimension. Fluorescence generated along the excitation axis is integrated over independently positioned receiver windows, and concentration is recovered by nonlinear optimization of the joint fluorescent intensity vector. Tryptophan was selected as a biomedically relevant model fluorophore to validate the proposed strategy. Single-window calibration exhibited vanishing-gradient boundary and two-valued concentration inversions, whereas two spatially separated receiver windows restored global identifiability across the full concentration range. Screening of 35 two-receiver geometries identified the minimum-uncertainty configuration, achieving an average 95% error half-width of mean E_95= 0.884 mg/L, and the maximum-sensitivity configuration, reaching a noise-normalized response sensitivity of mean S_N=3.832 a.u./(mg/L). By converting spatial attenuation into a multidimensional concentration coordinate, this approach extends quantitative fluorescence analysis without dilution, a separate absorbance measurement, or piecewise calibration and provides a general metrology framework for fluorescence metrology even under strong IFE conditions.

At fixed pulse energy, which drive waveform extracts the most $n$th-order nonlinear conversion from a resonator ($n=2$ for second harmonic)? A short pulse couples poorly to a narrow resonance, a long one dilutes its energy, and no linear rule fixes the compromise. We solve the problem exactly for a single mode of amplitude decay rate $\kappa$. Eliminating the drive turns fixed incident energy into a constraint on the stored field alone, and the optimization becomes a sharp Gagliardo–Nirenberg inequality whose extremal is the ground-state soliton of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. The optimal stored field is $\mathrm{sech}^{1/(n-1)}[(n-1)\kappa t]$, sustained by an asymmetric input that rises as $e^{\kappa t}$ and falls as $e^{-(2n-1)\kappa t}$; the largest converted energy follows in closed form. A rising exponential, the time-reversal recipe, retains at most $79.0\%$ of the bound at $n=2$ and $2/e$ at large $n$; a two-rate pulse retains above $97\%$. Critical coupling generalizes to $n$-fold overcoupling, with optimal input coupling $n$ times the intrinsic loss rate. The bound applies from microrings to superconducting circuits and caps the per-pulse brightness of broadband photon-pair sources.

Direct optimization of complex wave dynamics through the intrinsic evolution of physical systems is fundamentally limited by the lack of directly accessible gradients. Adjoint methods provide an exact route to gradient computation and have enabled optimization in numerical solvers and, more recently, in frequency-domain physical platforms. Yet their extension to the time domain has remained out of reach, as reproducing time-reversed propagation appears to require non-causal operations or compensating gain. Here we develop a protocol and experimentally demonstrate that time-domain adjoint dynamics can be realized in-situ in linear physical systems without gain, non-causal elements, or auxiliary backward networks. By combining time remapping with a transformation of system variables, we obtain a physically realizable adjoint evolution that constructs gradients from measurable signals. We experimentally demonstrate the approach in a complex RLC network, realizing in-situ optimization for time-dependent objectives, including time-windowed and broadband responses. This framework unifies physical optimization by enabling both system parameters and source excitations to be optimized within the same platform. Our results close the gap between adjoint theory and physical implementation, establishing a general foundation for hardware-native, in-situ temporal optimization across a broad class of complex dynamical systems.

A complex, non-Hermitian scattering system with a high degree of multiple scattering and interference is often treated as a black box, described simply by the relationship between a set of incoming and outgoing waves of a given frequency or energy. The scattering matrix S that describes the system is a non-unique, generally sub-unitary matrix that reveals very little about the microscopic processes that are responsible for the observed scattering. We form the Fisher information operator $F_x$, a Hermitian matrix, utilizing a derivative of S with respect to the value of some varying parameter x of the system, associated with a localized perturbation, and experimentally demonstrate that the principal eigenvector of Fx can be used to quantitatively measure changes in the value of parameter x using only information from the scattering matrix. We propose a "discrete feedback loop" protocol enabled by the knowledge we gain from the Fisher information operator, that repeatedly determines the counter perturbation necessary to return a varying parameter to some fixed benchmark value. A further application of the Fisher information operator for energy focusing that utilizes the principal eigenvector excitation is demonstrated through compelling indirect evidence of targeting within a complex system. These methods are experimentally demonstrated to work even in the presence of time-reversal symmetry breaking due to absorption and/or loss of scattering reciprocity.

The precise characterization of spatial optical coherence is fundamental to emerging applications in optical communications and computational imaging. However, extracting the full coherence matrix traditionally requires phase-sensitive interferometry, which is highly vulnerable to environmental noise and poses severe scalability challenges for integrated photonics. Here, we introduce an architecture-agnostic framework for analyzing and controlling partially coherent light on programmable photonic circuits. By leveraging the Schur-Horn theorem, our approach systematically diagonalizes the incident coherence matrix, relying solely on output intensity measurements and entirely circumventing the need for complex phase retrieval. We experimentally validate this black-box protocol on a low-depth, non-universal photonic integrated circuit, successfully reconstructing the hidden eigenvalues of mixed states generated from up to four mutually incoherent sources. Furthermore, we demonstrate active, in-situ statistical light control by introducing non-unitary amplitude modulation to significantly enhance interference visibility, exposing a fundamental physical trade-off between coherence enhancement and optical loss. Inherently resilient to hardware constraints and experimental noise, this scalable paradigm establishes a robust pathway for realizing ultra-compact, on-chip spatial coherence analyzers.

We show that the conventional multipolar Hamiltonian is qualitatively modified when the photonic vacuum breaks inversion or time-reversal symmetry. By explicitly applying the Power-Zienau-Woolley transformation, we derive the resulting multipolar Hamiltonians for two idealized chiral photonic environments: a spatial-chiral vacuum, which breaks inversion symmetry, and a temporal-chiral vacuum, which breaks time-reversal symmetry. In the spatial-chiral case, the transformation generates an inversion-breaking self-energy, whereas in the temporal-chiral case it produces an additional Zeeman-like energy. Using a trapped hydrogen-like atom and a charged harmonic oscillator in cavities as minimal examples, we show that these symmetry-dependent terms lead to characteristic spectral shifts. Our work provides a general framework for describing light-matter interactions in chiral quantum electrodynamics and identifying the associated symmetry-dependent effects on cavity-embedded atoms, molecules, and quantum materials.

Metamaterial anti-reflection coatings (ARC) are used in a variety of applications, including: lenses, filters, and absorbers. Typically, the design of a given ARC is done within an infinite medium approximation, which presupposes that every unit cell on the interface is identical. However, in realistic applications, the geometry of a given ARC usually has some degree of variability, be it due to the shape of the surface inherent to the application, like in a lens, or manufacturing tolerances. This variation may alter the performance of the optical element in unanticipated ways, by creating additional scattering, enabling diffractive maxima that would normally be absent and, most crucially, changing the transparency of the ARC as a function of frequency. In this work we utilize full-wave modeling of finite samples of plastic which are matched with free space using a metamaterial ARC on both of their interfaces. By adding a degree of randomness to the ARC geometry we attempt to characterize the extent to which a given variation affects the expected performance of an ARC.

Electric quadrupole absorption is driven by optical field gradients, not by field amplitudes alone. This distinction is crucial for structured light, where a paraxially small longitudinal field can generate a leading-order longitudinal gradient. For fully vectorial Laguerre-Gaussian modes, Maxwell transversality locks this longitudinal gradient to the transverse structured gradient of the leading paraxial field. This locking is therefore a general electromagnetic constraint, not a focusing-dependent correction that can be removed independently. Decomposing the symmetric-traceless optical field-gradient tensor into spherical components reveals a strongly channel-selective response: the $\Delta m=0$ transition requires the longitudinal gradient at the retained order, the $\Delta m=\pm1$ channels receive scalar and vectorial nonparaxial corrections on top of the carrier-scale longitudinal derivative of the transverse field, and the $\Delta m=\pm2$ channels remain transverse at the same order. These results show that longitudinal optical structure can enter structured-light quadrupole transitions as an indispensable leading-gradient contribution, even when the longitudinal field amplitude itself is paraxially small.

Photonic microcavities offer high energy density and low mode volume and attract special attention due to wide range of applications. Subsequent developments in the area of plasmonic nanocavities have also opened up applications despite their high absorptive properties. In the last two decades, photonic-plasmonic hybrid microcavities have been investigated extensively. In this article, we have conducted a review of the literature on photonic and plasmonic systems individually as well as in hybrid systems. Along with the underlying physics, applications such as cavity quantum electrodynamics, lasing, sensing, nonlinear optics and Raman spectroscopy have been reviewed. The outputs of the systems for each applications have been discussed and compared for photonic and hybrid systems. This review will provide a thorough understanding of the effects of optical cavities and plasmonics and their applications.

High-refractive-index particles have recently attracted a growing interest in optical levitation experiments, offering the ability to further engineer optical forces through electromagnetic Mie resonances. Unlike standard silica particles, which are predominantly trapped in the dipole regime and exhibit trap frequencies mainly determined by material density, resonant meta-atoms formed by high-index particles enable qualitatively new trapping behaviors. In this work, we experimentally investigate the trapping of resonant silicon particles in an optical standing wave. A direct comparison of silicon and silica highlights the fundamental differences in their optical force scaling and trapping dynamics. Beyond conventional trapping at intensity-maxima, we demonstrate deterministic and stable three-dimensional trapping of silicon nanoparticles in optical intensity minima, a regime that remains inaccessible for silica particles. Drawing a mesoscopic analogy with blue-detuned atom trapping, our results establish meta-atoms as a versatile approach to further extend the optical manipulation tool box towards accessing novel trapping regimes e.g. in close proximity to a surface.

High harmonic generation (HHG) in solids offers a pathway to develop compact extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sources crucial for attosecond science and advanced spectroscopy. Here, we demonstrate theoretically that high pressure dramatically enhances HHG in superhard hexagonal tungsten nitride (h-WN6). Compared with solid-state systems at ambient pressure, the reshaped electronic environment under high pressure leads to a unique band-gap widening in h-WN6, which raises the material's damage threshold, allowing the use of stronger laser fields and enabling access to higher-energy bands. This pressure-induced band-gap widening offers a promising strategy to overcome the cutoff limitation of solid-state EUV light sources.

Terahertz (THz) radiation provides a powerful platform for ultrafast spectroscopy, imaging, and communication, yet deterministic control over its spatial and polarization structure remains challenging. Here we establish a unified framework for generating and synthesizing vectorial THz beams through coherent control of ultrafast photocurrents in semiconductors. By exploiting quantum interference between one- and two-photon excitation pathways driven by femtosecond vector beams, we demonstrate that the spatial phase and polarization structure of the optical fields can be directly mapped onto the magnitude and orientation of injected currents. This structured charge motion acts as a programmable THz antenna, enabling tailored far-field emission. Beyond forward modeling of THz generation from cylindrical vector beams and full Poincaré beams, we introduce an inverse-design methodology that reconstructs the required current distribution–and corresponding excitation beam profiles–from a desired THz field pattern. This invertible mapping transforms coherent photocurrent control into a systematic design strategy for THz beam shaping. Our results bridge structured light and THz photonics, providing a route toward compact, all-optical, and reconfigurable THz sources with engineered amplitude, phase, and polarization profiles.

The optical modes of mesoscale plasmonic waveguides (MPWs) are significantly affected by nonclassical quantum effects, which can be comprehensively described by the nonclassical electromagnetic boundary condition (NEBC) formulated with the surface-response Feibelman d-parameters. In this paper, a perturbation theory for the nonclassical waveguide modes (NWMs) supported by MPWs under the NEBC is proposed. In this theory, by adopting the classical waveguide modes (CWMs) under the classical electromagnetic boundary condition (CEBC) as the basis functions and treating the NEBC as a first-order perturbation, a general expression of the propagation constant of the NWM with an analytical dependence on the NEBC is derived. This theory transparently reveals the underlying general relation between the nonclassical effects and the propagation properties of the NWMs, thereby providing an effective tool for the understanding and design of MPW devices, as well as for the experimental measurement of the d-parameters.

Achieving fast, high-fidelity state transfer is fundamental to scalable integrated photonics and quantum information processing. While adiabatic evolution provides inherent robustness against control and fabrication imperfections, its requirement for slow driving leads to impractically long propagation distances in photonic circuits. Existing acceleration strategies, such as shortcuts to adiabaticity (STA), can dramatically shorten evolution times but generally rely on non-native auxiliary couplings or delicate Hamiltonian engineering that are difficult to implement in practice. Here we introduce evolution-pause synthesis (EPS), an interference engineered shortcut protocol that achieves fast, near-perfect state transfer strictly within the native system Hamiltonian. It achieves this by treating transient excitations as coherent resources and canceling their accumulated amplitudes via strategically interleaved pauses. By decoupling relative dynamical phase accumulation from parameter variations, EPS steers open transition trajectories into a closed loop in complex amplitude space, enabling perfect state transfer without auxiliary fields or complex parameter detours. We demonstrate this mechanism in Landau-Zener dynamics and extend it to a multilevel STIRAP process, achieving an 11.8-fold acceleration over the adiabatic baseline. Further, we experimentally validate EPS on a silicon photonic platform, realizing high-fidelity state transfer in a $16\,{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ footprint, a nearly tenfold reduction in device length compared with a $150\,{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ adiabatic reference. EPS offers a general hardware-compatible framework for fast, practical coherent control across wave and quantum platforms.

Lithium niobate and lithium tantalate see widespread use in optics and electronics, and are increasingly used for cryogenic applications. Despite their broad deployment, their optical band gap and its relation to the crystal stoichiometry are not well characterised as a function of temperature. In this work, we study the optical absorption properties of congruent, stoichiometric, MgO-doped and Er-doped lithium niobate as well as congruent lithium tantalate across the temperature range between 7~K and 1000~K by means of optical transmission spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate that the difference of the optical band gap typically observed at room temperature between different stoichiometries is not primarily attributable to the intrinsic electronic structure, but rather to different electron-phonon couplings and the average phonon energies. Additionally, we exemplarily study the temperature shift of the 523 nm absorption line in Er-doped lithium niobate due to the increased interest in optically active dopants. To facilitate future analyses, we present the open-source software suite PhoQS-Treat (Tauc Regression Edge Analysis Tool), which enables automated Tauc regressions alongside additional analytical capabilities. This work advances the development of high-performance lithium niobate-based devices.

We demonstrate Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) based on a seeded SU(1,1) interferometer. Multilayer objects are probed with broadband light centered at 1550nm, while depth-resolved 3D images are reconstructed from photon flux measurements centered at 810nm. We show that, in the low parametric-gain regime, seeding increases the photon flux, enabling volumetric imaging with a spectrometer rather than single-photon detectors. Our analysis further shows that, under the conditions considered, seeding provides a more effective route to sensitivity enhancement than increasing the parametric gain.

Optically pumped room temperature masers are a promising platform for driven dissipative spin photon physics beyond steady state emission. Here we observe a sequence of dynamical thresholds in a room temperature nitrogen vacancy diamond maser as the optical pump is increased above the conventional masing threshold. The first threshold yields narrow-line continuous wave emission, while a second threshold produces a periodic train of microwave pulses whose repetition rate generates a frequency comb spectrum. At higher pump power, a third threshold gives rise to pulses with an oscillatory, frequency chirped decay. Time-resolved measurements link the comb directly to self-pulsing dynamics and Fourier analysis of individual bursts reveals a broad distribution of frequencies consistent with collective spin-resonator dynamics in an inhomogeneously broadened ensemble. These results establish the diamond maser as a room temperature platform for nonlinear nonequilibrium light matter dynamics and microwave comb generation.

Calculating strong-field, broadband nonlinear phenomena in complex nanophotonic structures remains difficult because it requires simultaneous handling of non-perturbative dynamics, impulsive processes, and structural complexity. Here, we introduce a unified framework that combines the transfer matrix method with an iterative Green's function approach. The linear multilayer response is incorporated as boundary conditions into a nonlinear boundary value problem, which is then solved self-consistently, naturally accommodating broad spectra and arbitrary nonlinearity. The framework is validated with two examples in the transparent and resonant regimes, respectively. The first demonstrates an impulsive spectral modulation in second harmonic generation that is captured only by a full-structure broadband treatment. The second demonstrates the entire dynamical evolution of exciton-polaritons in a pump-probe experiment reproduced by a unified simulation. This framework directly links nanophotonic design with ultrafast nonlinear dynamics.

We study the finite-genus algebro-geometric solutions of the Wadati-Konno-Ichikawa (WKI) equation with the saturable nonlinearity and long-time asymptotic behaviors of their short-range perturbations. First, for both the focusing and defocusing reductions, we formulate the finite-genus Baker-Akhiezer functions as explicitly solvable the matrix Riemann-Hilbert (RH) problems on the complex spectral plane and obtain theta-function representations together with the reconstruction formulae for the WKI field and the reciprocal coordinate. We then consider the Cauchy problem of the defocusing WKI equation on a finite-genus algebro-geometric background. We construct the scattering data and RH problem, and perform a Deift-Zhou nonlinear steepest descent analysis. The space-time plane is divided into two transition regions, a Zakharov-Manakov (ZM) region, and a fast-decay region. The leading term is a phase-shifted finite-genus WKI solution. The transition corrections are governed by a Painlevé-XXXIV model, while the ZM radiation is described by parabolic-cylinder functions. The reciprocal-coordinate asymptotics are obtained simultaneously.

We investigate the propagation of structured scalar optical beams in an effective anisotropic background inspired by the scalar sector of the Standard-Model Extension and controlled by a single dimensionless parameter $\lambda$. The physically relevant configuration is a transverse radial director field that modifies the radial part of the Helmholtz operator while preserving axial symmetry. Starting from the Green-function representation, we cast the propagation problem as an initial-value spectral reconstruction of a prescribed finite-aperture entrance profile at $z=0$ and verify that this profile is recovered at the launch plane across the values of $\lambda$ used in the analysis, within small numerical error. We use the Laguerre–Gaussian mode $L_3$ as the representative vortex-free Laguerre case, retain $L_4$ only as a quantitative benchmark for radial-order dependence, and compare both with a Bessel–Gaussian beam of input order $m=0$. The effective anisotropy produces a systematic redistribution of radial intensity, determines whether the central peak remains dominant or is overtaken by off-axis maxima as propagation advances, and controls the radial displacement of the dominant side lobes. For the finite-aperture Bessel–Gaussian beam, the same parameter quantifies how the approximately diffraction-resistant ring structure broadens for negative $\lambda$ and compresses for positive $\lambda$ during propagation.

This article investigates the role of polyaniline as a conductive polymer in the active layer of perovskite solar cells. Samples were created by incorporating polyaniline into the transport layers to assess its impact on enhancing efficiency and conductivity. The application of this polymer across various layers of the cell structure led to improved stability and performance. Given its high doping capability, polyaniline was examined in detail, particularly focusing on two types of oxidation doping and its integration into the hole transport layer. Graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide were chosen as comparative models, and their performance was evaluated against the standard polyaniline configuration. Laboratory results revealed that power conversion efficiency increased by 17.5% with graphene oxide and by 36.8% with reduced graphene oxide. Furthermore, short-circuit current density improved by 9.8% and 23.1%, respectively. These findings are consistent with existing studies in the field and support the validity of the approach.

High contact resistances in atomically thin semiconductors often mask intrinsic electrical transport properties, particularly at low carrier densities where exotic correlated states emerge. We introduce optical voltage profiling, a noninvasive wide-field technique that replaces local voltage probes with a proximal monolayer MoSe$_2$ exciton sensor. Isolated by thin hexagonal boron nitride, this sensor converts the target's local electrostatic potential into spatially resolved modulations of exciton reflectance. Through pixel-wise in situ calibration, these signals yield quantitative two-dimensional voltage maps of an actively biased semiconductor device. Using this method, we demonstrate the carrier-density-driven metal-insulator transition in bilayer MoSe$_2$ and obtain channel resistances below 1 k$\Omega$ despite M$\Omega$-scale two-terminal resistances in the metallic region. The optically derived resistance exhibits a metal-insulator crossover near the resistance quantum $h/e^2$, and the voltage maps and reconstructed local conductivity reveal pronounced spatial heterogeneity in both insulating and metallic regimes. Beyond resolving channel resistance under high contact-resistance conditions, the technique provides spatially resolved access to microscopic transport heterogeneity in functional van der Waals devices.