Holographic display stands as a prominent approach for achieving lifelike three-dimensional (3D) reproductions with continuous depth sensation. However, the generation of a computer-generated hologram (CGH) always relies on the repetitive computation of diffraction propagation from point-cloud or multiple depth-sliced planar images, which inevitably leads to an increase in computational complexity, making real-time CGH generation impractical. Here, we report a new CGH generation algorithm capable of rapidly synthesizing a 3D hologram in only one-step backward propagation calculation in a novel split Lohmann lens-based diffraction model. By introducing an extra predesigned virtual digital phase modulation of multifocal split Lohmann lens in such a diffraction model, the generated CGH appears to reconstruct 3D scenes with accurate accommodation abilities across the display contents. Compared with the conventional layer-based method, the computation speed of the proposed method is independent of the quantized layer numbers, and therefore can achieve real-time computation speed with a very dense of depth sampling. Both simulation and experimental results validate the proposed method.

Compressing all the energy of a laser pulse into a spatiotemporal focal cube edged by the laser center wavelength will realize the highest intensity of an ultra-intense ultrashort laser, which is called the λ3 regime or the λ3 laser. Herein, we introduced a rotational hyperbolic mirror—an important rotational conic section mirror with two foci—that is used as a secondary focusing mirror after a rotational parabolic mirror to reduce the focal spot size from several wavelengths to a single wavelength by significantly increasing the focusing angular aperture. Compared with the rotational ellipsoidal mirror, the first focal spot with a high intensity, as well as some unwanted strong-field effects, is avoided. The optimal focusing condition of this method is presented and the enhanced tight focusing for a femtosecond petawatt laser and the λ3 laser is numerically simulated, which can enhance the focused intensities of ultra-intense ultrashort lasers for laser physics.

Orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) multiplexing technology offers a significant dimension to enlarge communication capacity in free-space optical links. The coherent beam combining (CBC) system can simultaneously realize OAM multiplexing and achieve high-power laser output, providing substantial advantages for long-distance communication. Herein, we present an integrated CBC system for free-space optical links based on OAM multiplexing and demultiplexing technologies for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. A method to achieve flexible OAM multiplexing and efficient demultiplexing based on the CBC system is proposed and demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally. The experimental results exhibit a low bit error rate of 0.47% and a high recognition precision of 98.58% throughout the entire data transmission process. By employing such an ingenious strategy, this work holds promising prospects for enriching ultra-long-distance structured light communication in the future.

Valley topological photonic crystals (TPCs), which are robust against local disorders and structural defects, have attracted great research interest, from theoretical verification to technical applications. However, previous works mostly focused on the robustness of topologically protected edge states and little attention was paid to the importance of the photonic bandgaps (PBGs), which hinders the implementation of various multifrequency functional topological photonic devices. Here, by systematically studying the relationship between the degree of symmetry breaking and the working bandwidth of the edge states, we present spoof surface plasmon polariton valley TPCs with broadband edge states and engineered PBGs, where the operation frequency is easy to adjust. Furthermore, by connecting valley TPCs operating at different frequencies, a broadband multifunctional frequency-dependent topological photonic device with selectively directional light transmission is fabricated and experimentally demonstrated, achieving the functions of wavelength division multiplexing and add–drop multiplexing. We provide an effective and insightful method for building multi-frequency topological photonic devices.

Light-field fluorescence microscopy (LFM) is a powerful elegant compact method for long-term high-speed imaging of complex biological systems, such as neuron activities and rapid movements of organelles. LFM experiments typically generate terabytes of image data and require a substantial amount of storage space. Some lossy compression algorithms have been proposed recently with good compression performance. However, since the specimen usually only tolerates low-power density illumination for long-term imaging with low phototoxicity, the image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is relatively low, which will cause the loss of some efficient position or intensity information using such lossy compression algorithms. Here, we propose a phase-space continuity-enhanced bzip2 (PC-bzip2) lossless compression method for LFM data as a high-efficiency and open-source tool that combines graphics processing unit-based fast entropy judgment and multicore-CPU-based high-speed lossless compression. Our proposed method achieves almost 10% compression ratio improvement while keeping the capability of high-speed compression, compared with the original bzip2. We evaluated our method on fluorescence beads data and fluorescence staining cells data with different SNRs. Moreover, by introducing temporal continuity, our method shows the superior compression ratio on time series data of zebrafish blood vessels.

Moiré superlattices, a twisted functional structure crossing the periodic and nonperiodic potentials, have recently attracted great interest in multidisciplinary fields, including optics and ultracold atoms, because of their unique band structures, physical properties, and potential implications. Driven by recent experiments on quantum phenomena of bosonic gases, the atomic Bose–Einstein condensates in moiré optical lattices, by which other quantum gases such as ultracold fermionic atoms are trapped, could be readily achieved in ultracold atom laboratories, whereas the associated nonlinear localization mechanism remains unexploited. Here, we report the nonlinear localization theory of ultracold atomic Fermi gases in two-dimensional moiré optical lattices. The linear Bloch-wave spectrum of such a twisted structure exhibits rich nontrivial flat bands, which are separated by different finite bandgaps wherein the existence, properties, and dynamics of localized superfluid Fermi gas structures of two types, gap solitons and gap vortices (topological modes) with vortex charge S=1, are studied numerically. Our results demonstrate the wide stability regions and robustness of these localized structures, opening up a new avenue for studying soliton physics and moiré physics in ultracold atoms beyond bosonic gases.

We propose a joint look-up-table (LUT)-based nonlinear predistortion and digital resolution enhancement scheme to achieve high-speed and low-cost optical interconnects using low-resolution digital-to-analog converters (DACs). The LUT-based predistortion is employed to mitigate the pattern-dependent effect (PDE) of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), while the digital resolution enhancer (DRE) is utilized to shape the quantization noise, lowering the requirement for the resolution of DAC. We experimentally demonstrate O-band intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) transmission of 124-GBd 4/6-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM)-4/6 and 112-GBd PAM-8 signals over a 2-km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) with 3/3.5/4-bit DACs. In the case of 40-km SSMF transmission with an SOA-based preamplifier, 124-GBd on-off-keying (OOK)/PAM-3/PAM-4 signals are successfully transmitted with 1.5/2/3-bit DACs. To the best of our knowledge, we have achieved the highest net data rates of 235.3-Gb/s PAM-4, 289.7-Gb/s PAM-6, and 294.7 Gb/s PAM-8 signals over 2-km SSMF, as well as 117.6-Gb/s OOK, 173.8-Gb/s PAM-3, and −231.8 Gb/s PAM-4 signals over 40-km SSMF, employing low-resolution DACs. The experimental results reveal that the joint LUT-based predistortion and DRE effectively mitigate the PDE and improve the signal-to-quantization noise ratio by shaping the noise. The proposed scheme can provide a powerful solution for low-cost IM/DD optical interconnects beyond 200 Gb/s.

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, affect the elderly worldwide and will become more prevalent as the global population ages. Neuroinflammation is a common characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases. By regulating the phenotypes of microglia, it is possible to suppress neuroinflammation and, in turn, help prevent neurodegenerative diseases. We report a noninvasive photonic approach to regulating microglia from overexcited M1/M2 to the resting M0 phenotype using a special near-infrared (NIR) light emitted by the SrGa12O19:Cr3+ phosphor. The absorbance and internal and external quantum efficiencies of the optimal Sr(Ga0.99Cr0.01)12O19 phosphor synthesized at 1400°C for 8 h using 1% H3BO3+1% AlF3 as flux are 53.9%, 99.2%, and 53.5%; the output power and energy-conversion efficiency of the LED device packaged using the optimal SrGa12O19:Cr3+ phosphor driven at 20 mA reach unprecedentedly 19.69 mW and 37.58%, respectively. The broadband emission of the NIR LED device covers the absorption peaks of cytochrome c oxidase well, and the NIR light can efficiently promote the proliferation of microglia, produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), reverse overexcitation, alleviate and inhibit inflammation, and improve cell survival rate and activity, showing great prospects for photomedicine application.

Random fiber lasers (RFLs) have attracted extensive attention due to their rich physical properties and wide applications. Here, a RFL using a cascaded fiber loop mirror (CFLM) is proposed and presented. A CFLM with 10 fiber loop mirrors (FLMs) is simulated by the transfer matrix method and used to provide random feedback. Multiple spikes are observed in both the simulated and measured reflection spectra. The RFL operates in a single longitudinal mode near the threshold and a time-varying multilongitudinal mode at higher pump powers. The RFL exhibits a time-varying radio-frequency spectrum. The Lévy–Gaussian distribution transition is observed, as in many RFLs. The operation mechanism of the lasing longitudinal modes and the impact of complex mode competition and mode hopping on the output characteristics are discussed through experimental and theoretical results. In this study, we unveil an artificial random feedback structure and pave another way for the realization of RFLs, which should be a platform for multidisciplinary studies in complex systems.

Vector structured beams (VSBs) offer infinite eigenstates and open up new possibilities for high-capacity optical and quantum communications by the multiplexing of the states. Therefore, the sorting and measuring of VSBs are extremely important. However, the efficient manipulations of a large number of VSBs have simultaneously remained challenging up to now, especially in integrated optical systems. Here, we propose a compact spin-multiplexed diffractive metasurface capable of continuously sorting and detecting arbitrary VSBs through spatial intensity separation. By introducing a diffractive optical neural network with cascaded metasurface systems, we demonstrate arbitrary VSBs sorters that can simultaneously identify Laguerre–Gaussian modes (l=−4 to 4, p=1 to 4), Hermitian–Gaussian modes (m=1 to 4, n=1 to 3), and Bessel–Gaussian modes (l=1 to 12). Such a sorter for arbitrary VSBs could revolutionize applications in integrated and high-dimensional optical communication systems.

Detecting gravity-mediated entanglement can provide evidence that the gravitational field obeys quantum mechanics. We report the result of a simulation of the phenomenon using a photonic platform. The simulation tests the idea of probing the quantum nature of a variable by using it to mediate entanglement and yields theoretical and experimental insights, clarifying the operational tools needed for future gravitational experiments. We employ three methods to test the presence of entanglement: the Bell test, entanglement witness, and quantum state tomography. We also simulate the alternative scenario predicted by gravitational collapse models or due to imperfections in the experimental setup and use quantum state tomography to certify the absence of entanglement. The simulation reinforces two main lessons: (1) which path information must be first encoded and subsequently coherently erased from the gravitational field and (2) performing a Bell test leads to stronger conclusions, certifying the existence of gravity-mediated nonlocality.

A high-performance silicon arrayed-waveguide grating (AWG) with 0.4-nm channel spacing for dense wavelength-division multiplexing systems is designed and realized successfully. The device design involves broadening the arrayed waveguides far beyond the single-mode regime, which minimizes random phase errors and propagation loss without requiring any additional fabrication steps. To further enhance performance, Euler bends have been incorporated into the arrayed waveguides to reduce the device’s physical footprint and suppress the excitation of higher modes. In addition, shallowly etched transition regions are introduced at the junctions between the free-propagation regions and the arrayed waveguides to minimize mode mismatch losses. As an example, a 32×32 AWG (de)multiplexer with a compact size of 900 μm×2200 μm is designed and demonstrated with a narrow channel spacing of 0.4 nm by utilizing 220-nm-thick silicon photonic waveguides. The measured excess loss for the central channel is ∼0.65 dB, the channel nonuniformity is around 2.5 dB, while the adjacent-channel crosstalk of the central output port is −21.4 dB. To the best of our knowledge, this AWG (de)multiplexer is the best one among silicon-based implementations currently available, offering both dense channel spacing and a large number of channels.

High-order Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) petal-like beams have become a topic of significant interest due to their potential application in next-generation optical trapping, quantum optics, and materials processing technologies. In this work, we demonstrate the generation of high-order LG beams with petal-like spatial profiles and tunable orbital angular momentum (OAM) in the mid-infrared wavelength region. These beams are generated using idler-resonant optical parametric oscillation (OPO) in a KTiOAsO4 (KTA) crystal. By adjusting the length of the resonant cavity, the OAM of the mid-infrared idler field can be tuned and we demonstrate tuning in the range of 0 to ±10. When using a maximum pump energy of 20.2 mJ, the maximum output energy of high-order modes LG0,±5, LG0,±8, and LG0,±10 were 0.8, 0.53, and 0.46 mJ, respectively. The means by which high-order LG modes with petal-like spatial profiles and tunable OAM were generated from the OPO is theoretically modeled by examining the spatial overlap efficiency of the beam waists of the pump and resonant idler fields within the center of the KTA crystal. The methodology presented in this work offers a simple and flexible method to wavelength-convert laser emission and generate high-order LG modes.

The article provides information about the image on the cover of Advanced Photonics Nexus, Volume 3, Issue 3.