{"title":"Principal component analysis for three-dimensional structured illumination microscopy (PCA-3DSIM)","authors":"Jiaming Qian, Weiyi Xia, Yuxia Huang, Jing Feng, Qian Chen, Chao Zuo","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01979-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01979-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Three-dimensional structured illumination microscopy (3DSIM) is an essential super-resolution imaging technique for visualizing volumetric subcellular structures at the nanoscale, capable of doubling both lateral and axial resolution beyond the diffraction limit. However, high-quality 3DSIM reconstruction is often hindered by uncertainties in experimental parameters, such as optical aberrations and fluorescence density heterogeneity. Here, we present PCA-3DSIM, a novel 3DSIM reconstruction framework that extends principal component analysis (PCA) from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) super-resolution microscopy. To further compensate spatial nonuniformities of illumination parameters, PCA-3DSIM can be implemented in an adaptive tiled-block manner. By segmenting raw volumetric data into localized subsets, PCA-3DSIM enables accurate parameter estimation and effective interference rejection for high-fidelity, artifact-free 3D super-resolution reconstruction, with the inherent efficiency of PCA supporting the tiled reconstruction with limited computational burden. Experimental results demonstrate that PCA-3DSIM provides reliable reconstruction performance and improved robustness across diverse imaging scenarios, from custom-built platforms to commercial systems. These results establish PCA-3DSIM as a flexible and practical tool for super-resolved volumetric imaging of subcellular structures, with broad potential applications in biomedical research.</p><figure><p>This article developed PCA-3DSIM, a mathematically grounded enhancement to 3D structured illumination microscopy that improves robustness by integrating physical modeling with statistical analysis.</p></figure>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144924107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Recyclable luminescent solar concentrator from lead-free perovskite derivative","authors":"Huanxin Yang, Haolin Lu, Xuejiao Wang, Wenda Sun, Yujing Yang, Wei Xiong, Guankui Long, Jialiang Xu, Xiaodan Zhang, Mingjian Yuan, Xiyan Li","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01973-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01973-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) offer a sustainable approach to power generation using fluorescent glasses, yet their green industrialization is impeded by the limited production scale and non-recyclability of embedded nanocrystals. Here, we introduce a lead-free perovskite derivative ETP<sub>2</sub>SbCl<sub>5</sub> (ETP = (C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>5</sub>)<sub>3</sub>PC<sub>2</sub>H<sub>5</sub>) with a reversible transition between powder and glass states. Through molecular dynamics and density functional theory, we elucidate the possible structural distortions of [SbCl<sub>5</sub>] pyramids and their impact on luminescence. The fabricated LSCs, utilizing such fluorescent glasses with an efficient absorption for <420 nm, achieve the highest power conversion and optical efficiencies of ~5.56% and ~32.5%, respectively. In addition to self-healing by reheating at ~200 °C, impressively, it could be mass recycled to phosphor by ethanol or heating treatments, which still maintains nearly initial fluorescent performance and could be repurposed like freshly synthesized samples. This work presents a paradigm for the sustainable use of fluorescent materials and offers a reliable path toward low-carbon globalization.</p>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xin-Rui Mao, Wei-Jie Ji, Shao-Lei Wang, Han-Qing Liu, Bang Wu, Xu-Jie Wang, Li Liu, Lai Zhou, Haiqiao Ni, Zhichuan Niu, Zhiliang Yuan
{"title":"A single-photon source based on topological bulk cavity","authors":"Xin-Rui Mao, Wei-Jie Ji, Shao-Lei Wang, Han-Qing Liu, Bang Wu, Xu-Jie Wang, Li Liu, Lai Zhou, Haiqiao Ni, Zhichuan Niu, Zhiliang Yuan","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01929-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01929-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Topological photonics offers the potential to develop quantum light sources with inherent robustness against structural disorders. To date, topologically protected edge or corner states have been investigated for this purpose. Here, for the first time, we exploit a topological bulk state with vertical directionality to enhance the light emission from a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD). An irregular ‘Q’-shaped cavity is applied for establishing topological robustness. We experimentally demonstrate a 1.6-fold Purcell enhancement of single-photon emission in the topological bulk cavity, with tolerance to the emission wavelength or the positioning of the coupled QD. Simulations indicate that such a QD-cavity coupling system can retain a Purcell factor exceeding 1.6 under a broad spectral detuning range of 8.6 nm or a coverage area of 2.5 μm<sup>2</sup>. Furthermore, the optimized cavity structure integrated with a reflector predicts a high single-photon extraction efficiency up to 92%. Our results offer a novel approach to develop topologically protected quantum light sources with high extraction efficiency and robust QD-cavity interaction against irregular cavity boundaries.</p>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Huiying Du, Hongxing Zhao, Yuqing Li, Yunfei Wang, Rujiang Li, Jizhou Wu, Wenliang Liu, Yiqi Zhang, Liantuan Xiao, Suotang Jia, Jie Ma
{"title":"Observation of nonlinear edge states in an interacting atomic trimer array","authors":"Huiying Du, Hongxing Zhao, Yuqing Li, Yunfei Wang, Rujiang Li, Jizhou Wu, Wenliang Liu, Yiqi Zhang, Liantuan Xiao, Suotang Jia, Jie Ma","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01997-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01997-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Exploring the interplay between topology and nonlinearity leads to an emerging field of nonlinear topological physics, which extends the study of fascinating properties of topological states to a regime where interactions between the particles cannot be neglected. For ultracold atomic systems, although many exotic topological states have been recently observed, the nonlinear effect remains elusive. Here, based on the laser-driven couplings of discrete atomic momentum states, we synthesize a topological trimer array, where the atomic interactions give rise to tunable nonlinearities. We observe the formation of nonlinear edge states in the density population evolution and participation ratio with increasing interaction, in contrast to the diffusive transport in a broad interaction range in nontopological arrays. Furthermore, we show the impact of interactions on the population distribution evolved from the initialized single-site population. Our work opens the avenue for exploring emergent nonlinear topological behaviors in ultracold atomic gases.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Li Liu, Jinxiang Du, Bailin Zhuang, Ming Gong, Jiamin Liu, Honggang Gu, Shiyuan Liu
{"title":"Pushing the resolution limit of coherent diffractive imaging","authors":"Li Liu, Jinxiang Du, Bailin Zhuang, Ming Gong, Jiamin Liu, Honggang Gu, Shiyuan Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01963-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01963-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Coherent diffractive imaging (CDI), with its lensless geometry and theoretically perfect transfer function, is considered as one of the most promising paradigms to achieve the Abbe resolution limit. However, recent advances on pushing the resolution limit in high-numerical-aperture (NA) CDIs has thus far been challenging. Here, we report a nearly 0.9NA CDI with an optimized imaging factor (<i>k</i> = 0.501), pushing the Abbe resolution diffraction limit for the first time in ultra-high-NA scenarios. Leveraging this the ultra-high NA and the Abbe-limit <i>k</i>-factor, we demonstrate a record-high imaging resolution of 0.57 <i>λ</i> for CDIs. Our approach builds upon a novel computational framework termed ‘rigorous Fraunhofer diffraction’ that eliminates the Ewald sphere effect in CDIs, particularly for high NAs. Our framework transforms the general challenge of high-NA, resolution-limited CDIs from relying on approximate and complicated geometric corrections to a solvable problem through rigorous model-based computation.</p>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144910868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Broadband photon-counting dual-comb spectroscopy with attowatt sensitivity over turbulent optical paths","authors":"Wei Zhong, Yingyu Liu, Qin Yin, Ruocan Zhao, Chong Wang, Wei Ren, Xiankang Dou, Xianghui Xue","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01934-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01934-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Photon-counting dual-comb spectroscopy (DCS) opens new possibilities for deploying DCS in scenarios previously constrained by limited detection sensitivity. However, inevitable optical path fluctuations hinder its practical implementation. Here, we propose a method to ensure the long-term stability of photon-counting DCS, overcoming turbulent optical paths, achieving attowatt-level detection sensitivity and quick acquisition times. Using a compact all-fiber dual-comb system, we achieve 20 nm broadband DCS of H<sup>13</sup>C<sup>14</sup>N across the C-band with an average detected power of only 4 attowatts per-comb line. Despite significant vibrations throughout measurements, the spectra maintain comb-line resolution and shot-noise-limited signal-to-noise ratios. Additionally, the system demonstrates successful deployment in open-path measurements, overcoming 93 dB attenuation. Our approach enables remote sensing of CO<sub>2</sub>, H<sub>2</sub>O, and HDO over a continuous 20-h observation period. This method highlights the potential for applications in fields such as metrology, quantum physics, and atmospheric sensing, especially in turbulent environments like open air or water, within a field-deployable system.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"42 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144905998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Junyi Gong, Mohammad Biabanifard, Kou Yoshida, Graham A. Turnbull, Andrea Di Falco, Ifor D. W. Samuel
{"title":"OLED illuminated metasurfaces for holographic image projection","authors":"Junyi Gong, Mohammad Biabanifard, Kou Yoshida, Graham A. Turnbull, Andrea Di Falco, Ifor D. W. Samuel","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01912-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01912-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are thin film optoelectronic devices that feature simple fabrication, light weight and broad tunability, which makes them widely used in mobile phone and TV displays. As a flat and surface-emitting light source, OLEDs are also used in emerging applications such as optical wireless communications, biophotonics and sensing, where the ability to integrate with other technologies makes them good candidates to realise miniaturised photonic platforms. Control of the OLED far-field emission is increasingly important for both displays and these emerging applications. At present, however, studies mainly focus on tuning the electroluminescence (EL) spectrum and emission directionality. Fine-tuning of the far-field emission is particularly challenging and is limited by the low spatial coherence of OLEDs. In this work, we show that it is possible for a single OLED to project a high-resolution image when combined with a holographic metasurface as a compact projection system. The metasurface-OLED projector allows us to directly manipulate the OLED far-field emission and display holographic images on a screen. Here, we further show how the projected image quality relates to the spatial coherence length and the spectrum of the OLED. We believe our demonstration provides a path towards a miniaturised and highly integrated metasurface display.</p>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144905997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"High-performance achromatic flat lens with high NA","authors":"Yifeng Shao, Paul Urbach","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01943-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01943-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A new strategy has been presented to overcome the long-term dilemma of simultaneously achieving high numerical aperture, large aperture size, and broadband achromatism of flat lenses. A stepwise phase dispersion compensation (SPDC) layer is introduced as a substrate on which the meta-atoms are positioned.</p>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144905995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yuxin Xiao, Mingyao Shen, Chin-Yiu Chan, Tao Yu, Wei Huang
{"title":"Ultralong organic afterglow from small molecular host-guest materials: state of the art","authors":"Yuxin Xiao, Mingyao Shen, Chin-Yiu Chan, Tao Yu, Wei Huang","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01954-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01954-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ultralong organic afterglow materials are being actively explored as attractive candidates for a wide range of applications such as data storage, security inks, emergency lighting, etc., due to their unique long-lived excited state properties and inherent advantages of low cost, appreciable functionality and ease of preparation. In the last three years, much effort has been devoted to achieving efficient ultralong afterglow from organic small molecules, which possess controllable intermolecular interactions and defined energy levels, making them a good platform to suppress the non-radiative decays, hence stabilizing the excitons for efficient afterglow emissions at room temperature. Nevertheless, there has been a lack of reviews on how efficient ultralong organic afterglow can be systematically achieved from small molecular host-guest materials, which is not conducive to the development of the field. In this review, we have outlined and summarized small-molecule ultralong organic afterglow materials based on different emission mechanisms. We have included emission mechanisms involving ultralong room-temperature phosphorescence (URTP), ultralong thermally activated delayed fluorescence (UTADF) and organic long persistent luminescence (OLPL), where the latter two mechanisms have rarely been reported. In addition, challenges and future perspectives are discussed to emphasize the future directions.</p><figure></figure>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"119 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144905996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sangjun Han, Jinseok Kong, Junho Choi, Won Chegal, Min Seok Jang
{"title":"Single-gate electro-optic beam switching metasurfaces","authors":"Sangjun Han, Jinseok Kong, Junho Choi, Won Chegal, Min Seok Jang","doi":"10.1038/s41377-025-01967-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-025-01967-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Electro-optic active metasurfaces have attracted attention due to their ability to electronically control optical wavefronts with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolutions. In most studies, such devices require gate arrays composed of a large number of independently-controllable local gate electrodes that address the local scattering response of individual metaatoms. Although this approach in principle enables arbitrary wavefront control, the complicated driving mechanism and low optical efficiency have been hindering its practical applications. In this work, we demonstrate an active beam switching device that provides highly directional beam profiles and significant and uniform optical efficiencies across diffraction orders separated by a large deflection angle. The device operates with only a single-gate bias applied to monolayer graphene, modulating its optical conductivity to control the optical efficiency of the device. The key performance metrics, the absolute and the relative efficiency, which are defined as the scattered power toward a certain angle <i>θ</i> normalized by the incident power and the net scattered power from the metasurface, respectively, are maximized by a genetic algorithm. Experimentally, the metasurface achieves 57° of active beam switching from the 0th to the −1st order diffraction, with absolute efficiencies of 0.084 and 0.078 and relative efficiencies of 0.765 and 0.836, respectively. Furthermore, an analytical framework using nonlocal quasinormal mode expansion provides deeper insight into the operating mechanism of active beam switching. Finally, we discuss the performance limitations of this design platform and provide insights into potential improvements.</p>","PeriodicalId":18069,"journal":{"name":"Light-Science & Applications","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144906000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}