Topological nodal-line semimetals attract growing research attention in the photonic and optoelectronic fields due to their unique topological energy-level bands and fascinating nonlinear optical responses. Here, to the best of our knowledge, we first report the saturable absorption property of topological nodal-line semimetal HfGeTe and the related pulse modulation in passively Q-switched visible lasers. Few-layer HfGeTe demonstrates outstanding saturable absorption properties in the visible-light band, yielding the saturation intensities of 7.88, 12.66, and 6.64 µJ/cm² at 515, 640, and 720 nm, respectively. Based on an as-prepared few-layer HfGeTe optical switch and a Pr:LiYF₄ gain medium, Q-switched visible lasers are also successfully achieved at 522, 640, and 720 nm. The minimum pulse widths of the green, red, and deep-red pulsed lasers are 150, 125.5, and 420 ns, respectively. Especially for the green and red pulsed laser, the obtained pulse width is smaller than those of the low-dimensional layered materials. Our work sheds light on the application potential of topological nodal-line semimetals in the generation of visible pulsed lasers.

Curvature sensing plays an important role in structural health monitoring, damage detection, real-time shape control, modification, etc. Developing curvature sensors with large measurement ranges, high sensitivity, and linearity remains a major challenge. In this study, a curvature sensor based on flexible one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D-PC) films was proposed. The flexible 1D-PC films composed of dense chalcogenide glass and water-soluble polymer materials were fabricated by solution processing. The flexible 1D-PC film curvature sensor has a wide measurement range of 33–133 m^-1 and a maximum sensitivity of 0.26 nm/m^-1. The shift of the transmission peak varies approximately linearly with the curvature in the entire measurement range. This kind of 1D-PC film curvature sensor provides a new idea for curvature sensing and measurement.

Toroidal multipole is a special current distribution that has many different characteristics from electric multipole and magnetic multipole distributions. Because of its special properties, the toroidal dipole is a research hotspot in the field of metamaterials and nanophotonics. However, the low scattering of the toroidal dipole moment makes its excitation a challenging task. At present, there are relatively few studies on its specific engineering applications. In this paper, by slotting in the rectangular cavity, the excitation of an equivalent toroidal dipole is successfully achieved over a wide frequency range of 53–58 GHz. Results indicate that under the action of the toroidal dipole, the TE10 mode electromagnetic waves transmitted in the rectangular waveguide are converted into vector beams and are radiated outwards. Further adjusting the spatial distribution of the magnetic dipoles in the toroidal dipoles yields results that indicate that the resonance mode in the slot is still dominated by the magnetic toroidal dipole moment, and the electromagnetic waves radiating outward are vortex beams carrying vector polarization. The scattered energy of each dipole moment inside the antenna is calculated. This calculation verifies that the mass of the vector beam and vector vortex beam is closely related to the toroidal dipole supported by this antenna. The proposed structure can be applied to explorations in vortex filtering, in photon entanglement, and in the photonic spin Hall effect.

A simple quasi-distributed fiber sensing interrogation system based on random speckles is proposed for weak fiber Bragg gratings (WFBGs) in this work. Without using tunable lasers or spectrometers, a piece of multimode fiber is applied to interrogate the WFBGs relying on the wavelength sensitivity of speckles. Instead of the CCD sensor, an InGaAs quadrant detector serves as the receiver to capture the fast-changing speckle patterns. A supervised deep learning algorithm of the multilayer perceptron architecture is implemented to process speckle data and to interrogate temperature changes or dynamic strains. The proposed demodulation system is experimentally demonstrated for WFBGs with 0.1% reflectivity. The experimental results demonstrate that the new system is capable of measuring temperature change with an accuracy of 1°C and achieving dynamic frequency of 100 Hz. This speckle-based interrogation system paves a new way for distributed WFBGs sensing with a simple design.

We developed a general framework for parallel all-optical logic operations with independent phase control of arbitrary orthogonal polarization state enabled by a single-layer metasurface. A pair of orthogonal circular polarized bases are used as two input channels of the logic operator, and their four combinations perfectly match various binary input states. Correspondingly, distinct phase profiles are encoded into the metasurface, which enables parallel operation of the two logic gates by way of polarization switching. It allows for an efficient and compact way to implement multi-channel multiplexed logic gate operations with the capability of fast optical computing at the chip scale.

Flexible devices provide advantages such as conformability, portability, and low cost. Paper-based electronics offers a number of advantages for many applications. It is lightweight, inexpensive, and biodegradable, making it an ideal choice for disposable electronics. In this work, we propose a novel configuration of photodetectors using paper as flexible substrates and amorphous Ga2O3 as the active materials, respectively. The photoresponse characteristics are investigated systematically. A decent responsivity yield and a specific detectivity of up to 66 mA/W and 3×1012 Jones were obtained at a low operating voltage of 10 V. The experiments also demonstrate that neither the twisting nor bending deformation can bring obvious performance degradation to the device. This work presents a candidate strategy for the application of conventional paper substrates to low-cost flexible solar-blind photodetectors, showing the potential of being integrated with other materials to create interactive flexible circuits.

Scintillators are the vital component in X-ray perspective image technology that is applied in medical imaging, industrial nondestructive testing, and safety testing. But the high cost and small size of single-crystal commercialized scintillators limit their practical application. Here, a series of Tb³⁺-doped borosilicate glass (BSG) scintillators with big production size, low cost, and high spatial resolution are designed and fabricated. The structural, photoluminescent, and scintillant properties are systematically investigated. Benefiting from excellent transmittance (87% at 600 nm), high interquantum efficiency (60.7%), and high X-ray excited luminescence (217% of Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂), the optimal sample shows superhigh spatial resolution (exceeding 20 lp/mm). This research suggests that Tb³⁺-doped BSG scintillators have potential applications in the static X-ray imaging field.

We demonstrate an all-polarization-maintaining (PM) passively mode-locked Yb3+-doped fiber laser (YDFL) with a fundamental repetition rate of 1.3 GHz. The optical spectra of a linearly polarized soliton exhibit different shapes by rotating the fast axis of the fiber optical pigtail of a dispersive dielectric mirror. The oscillator provides a series of laser performance, such as a threshold pump power for continuous wave laser oscillation of 3.1 mW, an optical-to-optical efficiency for mode-locking of 29%, and an integrated relative intensity noise of 0.08%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of >1GHz ultrafast all-fiber YDFL with PM architecture.

Dysprosium-doped orthorhombic yttrium aluminate (Dy:YAlO3 or Dy:YAP) single crystals were grown by the Czochralski method with a size of Φ43mm×150mm. Based on the measurements of spectra and theoretical analysis, the white-light emission was investigated with different doping concentrations. The optimal white emission was achieved at Dy3+ doping concentration of 1.0% under 450 nm excitation. Combining with residual pumping light, the white-light output was successfully obtained with Commission Internationale de l´Eclairage (CIE) coordinates x=0.3797, y=0.3685, the color temperature of 4000 K, and the largest fluorescence quantum yield of 46.9%. With the development of the GaN laser diode, the Dy:YAP single crystal has proven applicable in white-light-emitting diodes.

Bismuth (Bi)-doped near-infared (NIR) glass that can cover the entire optical communication window (850, 1310, and 1550 nm) has become the subject of extensive research for developing photonic devices, particularly, tunable fiber lasers and ultrabroadband optical amplifiers. However, the realization of highly efficient NIR luminescence from Bi-doped glass is still full of challenges. Notably, due to the co-existence of multiple Bi NIR centers in the glass, the origin of newly generated Bi NIR emission peaks at ∼930 and ∼1520 nm is still controversial. Here, we report a new Bi-doped nitridated germanate glass with tunable ultrabroadband NIR emission (850–1700 nm) and high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of ∼50%. A series of studies, including spectral analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and others, provide powerful evidence for the mechanism of luminescence enhancement and tunability, and make reasonable inferences about the origin of the new emission bands at ∼930 and ∼1520 nm. We believe that the results discussed above would enrich our understanding about multiple Bi NIR emission behaviors and contribute to the design and fabrication of highly efficient Bi-doped ultrabroadband wavelength-tunable optical glass fiber amplifiers and lasers in the future.