Correction to: Nature Photonics https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-024-01544-6, published online 18 October 2024.

The enhanced photodetector was fabricated on silicon-on-insulator substrates consisting of a 3-μm SiO2 layer and a 1.5-μm Si device layer. On top of that, an 80-nm PbSe thin film was deposited by an evaporation process. Hole arrays arranged in a square lattice were formed by ion etching. The depth of the holes was 150 nm. The Chinese scientists fabricated three devices: one without hole arrays and

Nature Photonics spoke with Hatice Altug, from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Thomas Krauss, from the University of York, and Malini Olivo from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) about optical biosensors and their prospects and challenges for clinical translation.

Now, a team of scientists from Stanford University in the USA have exploited a fundamental relationship in optical physics, the Kramers–Kronig (KK) relations, in order to make the skin of a mouse transparent (see picture), allowing its internal organs to be observed (Z. Ou et al. Science https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adm6869; 2024). The KK relations mean that the wavelength dependence of the real

However, achieving a similar feat with inorganic materials, especially metals, has proved challenging owing to their properties. Now, Yaoyu Wang and co-workers from Wuhan University in China and Purdue University in the USA report how two-photon decomposition and optical force trapping can print 3D structures from metals, metal oxides and alloys, with a resolution as fine as 100 nm (Y. Wang et al.

Now, writing in Nature, Dong, Brückerhoff-Plückelmann and colleagues demonstrate that low-coherence light can, somewhat counterintuitively, be employed for photonic convolutional computing, and even enhance it (B. Dong et al. Nature 632, 55–62; 2024). The low-coherence light, produced by filtering the emission from an erbium-doped fibre amplifier, is evenly split by amplitude between N input channels

Now, Ziwei Fan and colleagues, from the USA and China, have demonstrated directional thermal emission using pixelated, large-area, micro-optical arrays (Z. Fan et al. Nat. Commun. 15, 4533; 2024). Using carefully designed micro-optics (top left picture), the team experimentally demonstrated broadband, polarization-independent directional control of thermal radiation. The directional micro-emitter was

The field of plasmonics continues to show its potential scientific and technological impact, as new companies exploiting plasmonics beyond sensing applications emerge.

Nathalie Picqué, the new director at the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI) in Berlin, Germany, tells us all we need to know about frequency combs and dual-comb spectroscopy, and shares with us some golden tips on becoming a successful scientist.

Correction to: Nature Photonics https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-023-01174-4, published online 23 March 2023.