@article{21532, abstract = {Recent research in nanophotonics for scintillation-based imaging has demonstrated promising improvements in scintillator performance. In parallel, advances in nanophotonics have enabled wavefront control through metasurfaces, a capability that has transformed fields such as microscopy by allowing tailored control of optical propagation. This naturally raises the following question, which we address in this Perspective: can wavefront-control strategies be leveraged to improve scintillation-based imaging? To answer this question, we explore nanophotonic- and metasurface-enabled wavefront control in scintillators to mitigate image blurring arising from their intrinsically diffuse light emission. While depth-of-field extension in scintillation faces fundamental limitations absent in microscopy, this approach reveals promising avenues, including stacked scintillators, selective spatial-frequency enhancement, and X-ray energy-dependent imaging. These results clarify the key distinctions in adapting wavefront engineering to scintillation and its potential to enable tailored detection strategies.}, author = {Chen, Joshua and Vaidya, Sachin and Pajovic, Simo and Choi, Seou and Michaels, William and Martin-Monier, Louis and Hu, Juejun and Cogswell, Carol and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Soljačić, Marin}, issn = {2330-4022}, journal = {ACS Photonics}, number = {7}, pages = {1757–1766}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Wavefront engineering for scintillation-based imaging}}, doi = {10.1021/acsphotonics.5c03124}, volume = {13}, year = {2026}, } @article{21537, abstract = {Nanophotonics has revolutionized the control of light-matter interactions in various fields of fundamental science and technology. In this work, we propose Implosion Fabrication (ImpFab) as a versatile nanophotonics fabrication platform providing the highest spatial resolution, material versatility, and full volumetric control. ImpFab uniquely combines top-down lithography with bottom-up nanoparticle assembly within a hydrogel scaffold, enabling precise control over optical material properties, such as refractive index, by adjusting printing parameters. We showcase the potential of ImpFab by fabricating three-dimensional photonic crystals and quasicrystals, as well as demonstrating optical structures with spatially modulated unit cell material properties. Our results highlight the potential of ImpFab in producing nanostructures with tailored optical functionalities, which are crucial for applications in sensing, imaging, and information processing, and opening new avenues in developing non-Hermitian photonic systems with spatially controlled gain and loss.}, author = {Salamin, Yannick and Yang, Gaojie and Mills, Brian and Grossi Fonseca, André and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Yang, Quansan and Beroz, Justin and Kooi, Steven E. and de Miguel Comella, Marc and Mak, Kiran and Vaidya, Sachin and Oran, Daniel and Swain, Corban and Sun, Yi and Maayani, Shai and Sloan, Jamison and Amin Elfadil Elawad, Amel and Lopez, Josue J. and Boyden, Edward S. and Soljačić, Marin}, issn = {2047-7538}, journal = {Light: Science & Applications}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Three-dimensional nanophotonics with spatially modulated optical properties}}, doi = {10.1038/s41377-025-02166-5}, volume = {15}, year = {2026}, } @article{21555, abstract = {Spin-polarized electron beam sources enable studies of spin-dependent electric and magnetic effects at the nanoscale. We propose a method of creating spin-polarized electrons on an integrated photonics chip by laser-driven nanophotonic fields. A two-stage interaction separated by a free-space drift length is proposed, where the first stage and drift length introduces spin-dependent characteristics into the probability distribution of the electron wave function. The second stage uses an adjusted optical near field to rotate the spin states utilizing the spin-dependent wave-packet distribution to produce electrons with high ensemble average spin expectation values. This platform provides an integrated and compact method to generate spin-polarized electrons, implementable with millimeter scale chips and tabletop lasers.}, author = {Woodahl, Clarisse and Murillo, Melanie and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Karnieli, Aviv and Miller, David A. B. and Solgaard, Olav}, issn = {1079-7114}, journal = {Physical Review Letters}, number = {6}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{On-chip laser-driven free-electron spin polarizer}}, doi = {10.1103/3c1m-d3hh}, volume = {136}, year = {2026}, } @inproceedings{21581, abstract = {We demonstrate that nanophotonic scintillators based on three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals can overcome the longstanding tradeoff between spatial resolution and light yield in X-ray imaging. By engineering supercollimation, which is light propagation without angular spreading, within the emission spectrum, we strongly shape the angular emission profile of the scintillator, dramatically reducing blurring at large thicknesses. Our theoretical and numerical results, using realistic scintillator and photonic crystal parameters, show that this improves the Detector Quantum Efficiency (DQE) by up to several orders of magnitude at high spatial frequencies, enabling sharper images and reduced X-ray dosages. This approach offers a new path toward high-resolution, low-dose X-ray imaging systems.}, author = {Vaidya, Sachin and Choi, Seou and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Soljačić, Marin}, booktitle = {High Contrast Metastructures XV}, location = {San Francisco, CA, United States}, publisher = {SPIE}, title = {{Supercollimating photonic crystal scintillators}}, doi = {10.1117/12.3079431}, volume = {PC13910}, year = {2026}, } @article{21583, abstract = {Non-Hermiticity naturally arises in physical systems that exchange energy with their environment. The presence of non-Hermiticity leads to many topological physics phenomena and device applications. In the non-Hermitian energy band theory, the foundation of these physics and applications, both energies and wave vectors take complex values. The energy bands thus become a Riemann surface, and such an energy-band Riemann surface underlies all important signatures of non-Hermitian topology. Despite a long history and recent theoretical interests, the energy-band Riemann surface has not been experimentally studied. Here, we provide a photonic observation of the energy-band Riemann surface of a non-Hermitian system. This is achieved by a tunable imaginary gauge transformation in photonic synthetic frequency dimensions. From measured topologies of the Riemann surface, we reveal the complex-energy winding, the open-boundary-condition spectrum, the generalized Brillouin zone, and the branch points. Our findings demonstrate a unified framework in the studies of diverse effects in non-Hermitian topological physics through an experimental observation of energy-band Riemann surfaces.}, author = {Cheng, Dali and Wang, Heming and Zhong, Janet and Lustig, Eran and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Fan, Shanhui}, issn = {2375-2548}, journal = {Science Advances}, number = {12}, publisher = {American Association for the Advancement of Science}, title = {{Experimental observation of energy-band Riemann surface}}, doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aec8239}, volume = {12}, year = {2026}, } @unpublished{21699, abstract = {Recent research in nanophotonics for scintillation-based imaging has demonstrated promising improvements in scintillator performance. In parallel, advances in nanophotonics have enabled wavefront control through metasurfaces, a capability that has transformed fields such as microscopy by allowing tailored control of optical propagation. This naturally raises the following question, which we address in this perspective: can wavefront-control strategies be leveraged to improve scintillation-based imaging? To answer this question, we explore nanophotonic- and metasurface-enabled wavefront control in scintillators to mitigate image blurring arising from their intrinsically diffuse light emission. While depth-of-field extension in scintillation faces fundamental limitations absent in microscopy, this approach reveals promising avenues, including stacked scintillators, selective spatial-frequency enhancement, and X-ray energy-dependent imaging. These results clarify the key distinctions in adapting wavefront engineering to scintillation and its potential to enable tailored detection strategies.}, author = {Chen, Joshua and Vaidya, Sachin and Pajovic, Simo and Choi, Seou and Michaels, William and Louis Martin-Monier, Louis Martin-Monier and Hu, Juejun and Cogswell, Carol and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Soljačić, Marin}, booktitle = {arXiv}, title = {{Wavefront engineering for scintillation-based imaging}}, doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2601.09830}, year = {2026}, } @unpublished{21700, abstract = {We provide a theoretical framework to describe the dynamics of a free-electron beam interacting with quantized bound systems in arbitrary electromagnetic environments. This expands the quantum optics toolbox to incorporate free-electron beams for applications in highly tunable quantum control, imaging, and spectroscopy at the nanoscale. The framework recovers previously studied results and shows that electromagnetic environments can amplify the intrinsically weak coupling between a free-electron and a bound electron to reach previously inaccessible interaction regimes. We leverage this enhanced coupling for experimentally feasible protocols in coherent qubit control and towards the nondestructive readout and projective control of the electron beam's quantum-number statistics. Our framework is broadly applicable to microwave-frequency qubits, optical nanophotonics, cavity quantum electrodynamics, and emerging platforms at the interface of electron microscopy and quantum information.}, author = {Grzesik, Jakob M. and Karnieli, Aviv and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Black, Dylan S. and Lê, Trung Kiên and Solgaard, Olav and Fan, Shanhui and Vučković, Jelena}, booktitle = {arXiv}, title = {{A general framework for interactions between electron beams and quantum optical systems}}, doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2601.21385}, year = {2026}, } @unpublished{21701, abstract = {Polarization-resolved control and measurement of the optical field are essential for a wide range of photonic systems, including coherent communication, polarimetric sensing, and quantum information processing. We present a photonic integrated circuit that enables the generation and analysis of arbitrary polarization states. The device provides reconfigurable access to the full polarization degree of freedom of coherent light within a single integrated platform. We experimentally demonstrate arbitrary polarization state generation spanning the Poincare sphere, as well as Stokes vector measurement on chip. Unlike conventional Stokes measurements that rely on direct detection, polarization analysis utilizing this architecture is intrinsically non-destructive, preserving the optical signal for further optical domain processing. The devices are fabricated in a commercial foundry using CMOS-compatible processes, enabling scalable and reproducible integration. By combining polarization generation and analysis in a compact and stable photonic circuit, this work eliminates the need for external polarization optics and provides a foundation for robust, polarization-enabled photonic integrated systems.}, author = {Valdez, Carson G. and Kroo, Anne R. and Miller, Anna J. and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Miller, David A. B. and Solgaard, Olav}, booktitle = {arXiv}, title = {{Integrated photonic polarization synthesizer and analyzer}}, doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2602.17024}, year = {2026}, } @article{21798, abstract = {Phase singularities—points carrying quantized topological charge—are universal features found across diverse wave systems from superfluids and superconductors to acoustic and optical fields1,2,3,4. Ensembles of these singularities exhibit distance correlations resembling particles in liquids5,6,7,8, extensively studied for their role in exotic material phases9,10,11. By contrast, the full correlations in phase space that govern the system evolution have remained unexplored and experimentally inaccessible. Here we directly measure the ultrafast dynamics of optical singularity ensembles, capturing their full phase-space correlations, presenting the joint distance–velocity distribution. Our observations show a breakdown of the particle-singularity analogy12: phase singularities accelerate towards formally divergent velocities in the moment before annihilation7,13,14, indicated by measurements of velocities exceeding the speed of light. These apparent superluminal velocities are paradoxically amplified by the slow group velocity of hyperbolic phonon polaritons in our material platform, hexagonal boron nitride membranes15,16,17,18,19. We demonstrate these phenomena using combined hardware and algorithmic advances in ultrafast electron microscopy18,20,21,22,23,24,25, achieving spatial and temporal resolutions, each an order of magnitude below the polaritonic wavelength and cycle period. Our findings deepen our understanding of phase singularities and their universality, enabling to probe topological defect dynamics at previously unattainable timescales.}, author = {Bucher, T. and Gorlach, A. and Niedermayr, A. and Yan, Q. and Nahari, H. and Wang, K. and Ruimy, R. and Adiv, Y. and Yannai, M. and Abudi, T. L. and Janzen, E. and Spaegele, C. and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Edgar, J. H. and Koppens, F. H. L. and Vanacore, G. M. and H. Sheinfux, H. and Tsesses, S. and Kaminer, I.}, issn = {1476-4687}, journal = {Nature}, number = {8107}, pages = {920--926}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Superluminal correlations in ensembles of optical phase singularities}}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-026-10209-z}, volume = {651}, year = {2026}, } @article{21515, abstract = {The property of a physical system is highly dependent on its dimensionality. Topological physics in three or more dimensions exhibits rich phenomena without lower-dimensional counterparts. In this paper, the authors propose a scheme to implement such high-dimensional topological physics in a single photonic ring resonator, where the model of interest can be arbitrarily high dimensional and arbitrarily multi-band. The frequency modes in the resonator, coupled via electro-optic modulation, are used to create a high-dimensional lattice, and the spatial modes are used as the pseudo-spin degree of freedom within each lattice site. The band structure of the model can be measured from the transmission spectrum of the ring resonator. The authors numerically demonstrate as examples a three-dimensional, two-band model and a five-dimensional, four-band model. This paper establishes a versatile and programmable platform for high-dimensional topological physics, paving the way for its experimental studies and future applications.}, author = {Cheng, Dali and Wang, Heming and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Zhong, Janet and Fan, Shanhui}, issn = {2950-6360}, journal = {Newton}, number = {7}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Creating high-dimensional topological physics using a single ring resonator}}, doi = {10.1016/j.newton.2025.100163}, volume = {1}, year = {2025}, } @article{21521, abstract = {Fast-emitting scintillators are essential for advanced diagnostic techniques, yet many suffer from low radiation attenuation. This trade-off is particularly pronounced in polymer scintillators, which, despite their fast emission, exhibit low density and low atomic numbers, limiting the radiation attenuation factor, resulting in low detection efficiency. Here, we overcome this limitation by creating a heterostructure scintillator of alternating nanometric layers, combining fast light-emitting polymer scintillator layers and transparent stopping layers with a high radiation attenuation factor. The nanolayer thicknesses are tuned to optimize the penetration depth of recoil electrons in active emissive layers, maximizing the conversion of X-rays to visible light. This design increases light output by up to 1.5 times and enhances imaging resolution by a factor of 2 compared to homogeneous polymer scintillators due to the ability to use thinner samples. These results demonstrate the potential of heterostructure scintillators as next-generation detector materials, overcoming the limitations of homogeneous scintillators.}, author = {Be’er, Orr and Shultzman, Avner and Strassberg, Rotem and Dosovitskiy, Georgy and Veber, Noam and Schuetz, Roman and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Kaminer, Ido and Bekenstein, Yehonadav}, issn = {1530-6992}, journal = {Nano Letters}, keywords = {Scintillator, Heterostructure, Thin film, X-ray imaging, X-ray detector}, number = {9}, pages = {3422--3429}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Heterostructure nanoscintillator for matching radiation absorbing layers with fast light-emitting layers}}, doi = {10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c05353}, volume = {25}, year = {2025}, } @article{21524, abstract = {In X-ray tubes, more than 99% of the kilowatts of power supplied to generate X-rays via bremsstrahlung is lost as heat in the anode. Therefore, thermal management is a critical barrier to the development of more powerful X-ray tubes with higher brightness and spatial coherence, which are needed to translate imaging modalities such as phase-contrast imaging to the clinic. In rotating anode X-ray tubes, the most common design, thermal radiation is a bottleneck that prevents efficient cooling of the anode─the hottest part of the device by far. We predict that nanophotonic patterning of the anode of an X-ray tube enhances heat dissipation via thermal radiation, enabling it to operate at higher powers without an increase in temperature. The focal spot size, which is related to the spatial coherence of generated X-rays, can also be reduced at a constant temperature. A major advantage of our “nanophotonic thermal management” approach is that in principle, it allows complete control over the spectrum and direction of thermal radiation, which can lead to optimal thermal routing and improved performance.}, author = {Pajovic, Simo and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Choi, Seou and Kooi, Steven E. and Gupta, Rajiv and Zalis, Michael E. and Čelanović, Ivan and Soljačić, Marin}, issn = {1936-086X}, journal = {ACS Nano}, keywords = {X-ray tubes, thermal management, nanophotonics, thermal radiation, X-ray imaging, high-temperature}, number = {35}, pages = {31363--31370}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Nanophotonic thermal management in X-ray tubes}}, doi = {10.1021/acsnano.5c05186}, volume = {19}, year = {2025}, } @article{21530, abstract = {Metasurfaces, ultrathin structures composed of subwavelength optical elements, have revolutionized light manipulation by enabling precise control over electromagnetic waves’ amplitude, phase, polarization, and spectral properties. Concurrently, computational imaging leverages algorithms to reconstruct images from optically processed signals, overcoming the limitations of traditional imaging systems. This Perspective explores the synergistic integration of metaoptics and computational imaging, “metaoptic computational imaging”, which combines the physical wavefront shaping ability of metasurfaces with advanced computational algorithms to enhance imaging performance beyond conventional limits. We discuss how metaoptic computational imaging addresses the inherent limitations of single-layer metasurfaces in achieving multifunctionality without compromising efficiency. By treating metasurfaces as physical preconditioners and codesigning them with reconstruction algorithms through end-to-end (inverse) design, it is possible to jointly optimize the optical hardware and computational software. Advanced applications and new frontiers in the field enabled by metaoptic computational imaging are highlighted, including phase imaging and quantum state measurement.}, author = {Roques-Carmes, Charles and Wang, Kai and Yang, Yuanmu and Majumdar, Arka and Lin, Zin}, issn = {2330-4022}, journal = {ACS Photonics}, keywords = {nanophotonics, metasurfaces, computational imaging, inverse design}, number = {4}, pages = {1722--1733}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Metaoptic computational imaging}}, doi = {10.1021/acsphotonics.4c02266}, volume = {12}, year = {2025}, } @article{21531, abstract = {Entanglement is a unique feature of quantum mechanics. In coupled systems of light and matter, entanglement manifests itself in the linear superposition of multipartite quantum states (e.g., parametrized by the multiple spatial, spectral, or temporal degrees of freedom of a light field). In bipartite systems, the Schmidt decomposition provides a modal decomposition of the entanglement structure over independent, separable states. Although ubiquitous as a mathematical tool to describe and measure entanglement, there exists no general efficient experimental method to decompose a bipartite quantum state onto its Schmidt modes. Here, we propose a method that relies on bipartite self-configuring optics that automatically ``learns'' the Schmidt decomposition of an arbitrary pure quantum state. Our method is agnostic to the degrees of freedom over which quantum entanglement is distributed and can reconstruct the Schmidt modes and values by variational optimization of the network's output powers or coincidences. We illustrate our method with numerical examples of spectral entanglement analysis for biphotons generated via spontaneous parametric down conversion and provide experimental guidelines for its realization, including the influence of losses and impurities. Our method provides a versatile and scalable way of analyzing entanglement in bipartite integrated quantum photonic systems. }, author = {Roques-Carmes, Charles and Karnieli, Aviv and Miller, David A. B. and Fan, Shanhui}, issn = {2330-4022}, journal = {ACS Photonics}, keywords = {integrated photonics, spontaneous parametric down conversion, entanglement, quantum teleportation, reconfigurable optics}, number = {6}, pages = {3285--3294}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Automated modal analysis of entanglement with bipartite self-configuring optics}}, doi = {10.1021/acsphotonics.5c00813}, volume = {12}, year = {2025}, } @article{21536, abstract = {Scintillators have been widely used in X-ray imaging due to their ability to convert high-energy radiation into visible light, making them essential for applications such as medical imaging and high-energy physics. Recent advances in the artificial structuring of scintillators offer new opportunities for improving the energy resolution of scintillator-based X-ray detectors. Here, we present a three-bin energy-resolved X-ray imaging framework based on a three-layer multicolor scintillator used in conjunction with a physics-aware image postprocessing algorithm. The multicolor scintillator is able to preserve X-ray energy information through the combination of emission wavelength multiplexing and energy-dependent isolation of X-ray absorption in specific layers. The dominant emission color and the radius of the spot measured by the detector are used to infer the incident X-ray energy based on prior knowledge of the energy-dependent absorption profiles of the scintillator stack. Through ab initio Monte Carlo simulations, we show that our approach can achieve an energy reconstruction accuracy of 49.7%, which is only 2% below the maximum accuracy achievable with realistic scintillators. We apply our framework to medical phantom imaging simulations where we demonstrate that it can effectively differentiate iodine and gadolinium-based contrast agents from bone, muscle, and soft tissue.}, author = {Min, Seokhwan and Choi, Seou and Pajovic, Simo and Vaidya, Sachin and Rivera, Nicholas and Fan, Shanhui and Soljačić, Marin and Roques-Carmes, Charles}, issn = {2047-7538}, journal = {Light: Science & Applications}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{End-to-end design of multicolor scintillators for enhanced energy resolution in X-ray imaging}}, doi = {10.1038/s41377-025-01836-8}, volume = {14}, year = {2025}, } @article{21541, abstract = {Scintillators convert X-ray energy into visible light and are critical for imaging technologies. Their widespread use relies on scalable, high-quality manufacturing methods. Nanophotonic scintillators, featuring wavelength-scale nanostructures, can offer improved emission properties such as higher light yield, shorter decay times, and enhanced directionality. However, achieving scalable fabrication of these structures remains challenging. Here, we present a scalable fabrication method for large-area nanophotonic scintillators based on the self-assembly of chalcogenide glass photonic crystals. This technique enables the production of nanophotonic scintillators over wafer-scale areas, achieving a six-fold enhancement in light yield compared to unpatterned scintillators. By studying surface nanofabrication disorder, we show its impact on imaging performance and provide a route towards scintillation enhancements without compromising resolution. We demonstrate the practical applicability of our nanophotonic scintillators through X-ray imaging of biological and inorganic specimens. Our results could enable the industrial implementation of a new generation of nanophotonic-enhanced scintillators.}, author = {Martin-Monier, Louis and Pajovic, Simo and Abebe, Muluneh G. and Chen, Joshua and Vaidya, Sachin and Min, Seokhwan and Choi, Seou and Kooi, Steven E. and Maes, Bjorn and Hu, Juejun and Soljačić, Marin and Roques-Carmes, Charles}, issn = {2041-1723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Large-scale self-assembled nanophotonic scintillators for X-ray imaging}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-025-60953-5}, volume = {16}, year = {2025}, } @article{21542, abstract = {Nonlinear optics has become the workhorse for countless applications in classical and quantum optics, from optical bistability to single photon pair generation. However, the intrinsic weakness of optical nonlinearity and reciprocity of nonlinear interactions generally places stringent limits on the efficiency of nonlinear optical processes and their ability to be tailored for advanced applications in multimode systems. Here, motivated by recent advances in using non-Hermitian photonics and gain/loss engineering to enable non-reciprocal light transport, we explore how the interplay between non-Hermiticity and optical nonlinearity leads to a fundamentally new regime of nonlinear frequency conversion. We show how non-Hermitian coupling between discrete frequency modes can result in non-reciprocal flow of energy in a frequency dimension, closely resembling the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE). Applying our theory to a multimode nonlinear cavity supporting cascaded nonlinear processes, we demonstrate chiral energy flow in a frequency dimension, leading to long-range frequency shifts of quasi-continuous wave sources, shaped frequency combs robust to defects and disorder, terahertz (THz) generation far exceeding the Manley-Rowe limit, and nonlinear multimodal limit cycles for multi-frequency pump-probe spectroscopy.}, author = {Pontula, Sahil and Vaidya, Sachin and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Uddin, Shiekh Zia and Soljačić, Marin and Salamin, Yannick}, issn = {2041-1723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Non-reciprocal frequency conversion in a non-Hermitian multimode nonlinear system}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-025-62853-0}, volume = {16}, year = {2025}, } @article{21543, abstract = {Observing non-classical properties of light is a long-standing interest to advance a wide range of quantum applications. Optical cavities are essential to generate and manipulate non-classical light. However, detecting changes in cavity properties induced by the quantum state remains a critical challenge in the optical domain due to the weak material nonlinearity. Here, we propose a framework for observing the dynamics of quantum states generated inside nonlinear optical cavities. We leverage the symmetry-breaking process of a bistable system, which is highly sensitive to the initial state, enabling detection of quantum state displacement through an asymmetric equilibrium of a macroscopic observable. With a nonlinear response at the single photon level, our approach directly imprints the cavity field distribution onto the statistics of bistable cavity steady-states. We experimentally demonstrate our approach in a degenerate optical parametric oscillator, generating and reconstructing different quantum states. As a validation, we reconstruct the Husimi Q function of the cavity squeezed vacuum state. In addition, we observe the evolution of the quantum vacuum state inside the cavity as it undergoes phase-sensitive amplification. By enabling generation and measurement of quantum states in a single nonlinear optical cavity, our method paves a way for studying exotic dynamics of quantum optical states in nonlinear driven-dissipative systems.}, author = {Choi, Seou and Salamin, Yannick and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Sloan, Jamison and Horodynski, Michael and Soljačić, Marin}, issn = {2041-1723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Observing the dynamics of quantum states generated inside nonlinear optical cavities}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-025-63035-8}, volume = {16}, year = {2025}, } @article{21544, abstract = {Lasers with high intensity generally exhibit strong intensity fluctuations far above the shot-noise level. Taming this noise is pivotal to a wide range of applications, both classical and quantum. Here we demonstrate the creation of intense light with quantum levels of noise even when starting from inputs with large amounts of excess noise. In particular, we demonstrate how intense squeezed light with intensities approaching 0.1 TW cm−2, but noise at or below the shot-noise level, can be produced from noisy inputs associated with high-power amplified laser sources (an overall noise reduction of 30-fold). On the basis of a new theory of quantum noise in multimode systems, we show that the ability to generate quantum light from noisy inputs results from multimode quantum correlations, which maximally decouple the output light from the dominant noise channels in the input light. As an example, we demonstrate this effect for femtosecond pulses in nonlinear fibres, but the noise-immune correlations that enable our results are generic to many other nonlinear systems in optics and beyond.}, author = {Zia Uddin, Shiekh and Rivera, Nicholas and Seyler, Devin and Sloan, Jamison and Salamin, Yannick and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Xu, Shutao and Sander, Michelle Y. and Kaminer, Ido and Soljačić, Marin}, issn = {1749-4893}, journal = {Nature Photonics}, pages = {751--757}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Noise-immune quantum correlations of intense light}}, doi = {10.1038/s41566-025-01677-2}, volume = {19}, year = {2025}, } @article{21548, abstract = {Non-Abelian gauge fields provide a conceptual framework to describe particles having spins, underlying many phenomena in electrodynamics, condensed-matter physics and particle physics. Lattice models of non-Abelian gauge fields allow us to understand their physical implications in extended systems. The theoretical importance of non-Abelian lattice gauge fields motivates their experimental synthesis and explorations. Photons are fundamental particles for which artificial gauge fields can be synthesized, yet the demonstration of non-Abelian lattice gauge fields for photons has not been achieved. Here we demonstrate SU(2) lattice gauge fields for photons in the synthetic frequency dimensions, a playground to study lattice physics in a scalable and programmable way. In our lattice model, we theoretically observe that homogeneous non-Abelian lattice gauge potentials induce Dirac cones at time-reversal-invariant momenta in the Brillouin zone. We experimentally confirm the presence of non-Abelian lattice gauge fields by two signatures: linear band crossings at the Dirac cones, and the associated direction reversal of eigenstate trajectories. We further demonstrate a non-Abelian scalar lattice gauge potential that lifts the degeneracies of the Dirac cones. Our results highlight the implications of non-Abelian lattice gauge fields in topological physics, and provide a starting point for demonstrations of emerging non-Abelian physics in the photonic synthetic dimensions. Our results may also benefit photonic technologies by providing controls of photon spins and pseudo-spins in topologically non-trivial ways.}, author = {Cheng, Dali and Wang, Kai and Roques-Carmes, Charles and Lustig, Eran and Long, Olivia Y. and Wang, Heming and Fan, Shanhui}, issn = {1476-4687}, journal = {Nature}, number = {8044}, pages = {52--56}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Non-Abelian lattice gauge fields in photonic synthetic frequency dimensions}}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-024-08259-2}, volume = {637}, year = {2025}, }