Low-Earth orbit, the primary operational domain for the international space station and commercial satellites, presents a severe thermodynamic environment for spacecraft. Current testing methodologies, such as thermal cycling and damp-heat assessments, are inadequately aligned with the characteristics of perovskites. The commentary suggests a tiered thermal stress testing framework to enhance existing standards and support a robust and standardized framework for certification.

Landau–Zener (LZ) tunneling, i.e., the nonadiabatic level transition under strong parameter driving, is a fundamental concept in modern quantum mechanics. With the advent of non-Hermitian physics, research interest has been paid to the LZ tunneling involving level dissipations. However, experimental demonstrations of such an interesting non-Hermitian LZ problem remain yet elusive. By harnessing a synthetic temporal lattice using a fiber-loop circuit, we report on the first real-time measurement of non-Hermitian LZ tunneling in a dissipative two-band lattice model. An innovative approach based on mode interference is developed to measure the transient band occupancies, providing a powerful tool to explore the non-Hermitian LZ tunneling dynamics in non-orthogonal eigenmodes. We find that the loss does not change the final LZ tunneling probability but can highly affect the tunneling process by modifying the typical band occupancies oscillation behaviors. We initiate exploring intriguing LZ physics and measurements beyond the standard Hermitian paradigm, with potential applications in coherent quantum control and quantum technologies.

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly impacted photonics, creating a symbiotic relationship that accelerates the development and applications of both fields. From the perspective of AI aiding photonics, deep-learning methods and various intelligent algorithms have been developed for designing complex photonic structures, where traditional design approaches fall short. AI’s capability to process and analyze large data sets has enabled the discovery of novel materials, such as for photovoltaics, leading to enhanced light absorption and efficiency. AI is also significantly transforming the field of optical imaging with improved performance. In addition, AI-driven techniques have revolutionized optical communication systems by optimizing signal processing and enhancing the bandwidth and reliability of data transmission. Conversely, the contribution of photonics to AI is equally profound. Photonic technologies offer unparalleled advantages in the development of AI hardware, providing solutions to overcome the bottlenecks of electronic systems. The implementation of photonic neural networks, leveraging the high speed and parallelism of optical computing, demonstrates significant improvements in the processing speed and energy efficiency of AI computations. Furthermore, advancements in optical sensors and imaging technologies not only enrich AI applications with high-quality data but also expand the capabilities of AI in fields such as autonomous vehicles and medical imaging. We provide comprehensive knowledge and a detailed analysis of the current state of the art, addressing both challenges and opportunities at the intersection of AI and photonics. The multifaceted interactions between AI and photonics will be explored, illustrating how AI has become an indispensable tool in the development of photonics and how photonics, in turn, facilitates advancements in AI. Through a collection of case studies and examples, we underscore the potential of this interdisciplinary approach to drive innovation, proposing challenges and future research directions that could further harness the synergies between AI and photonics for scientific and technological breakthroughs.

Flexible manipulation of chiral terahertz electromagnetic waves holds substantial potential for a wide range of applications, such as terahertz circular dichroism spectroscopy in biomaterials analysis, ultrafast electron bunch manipulation, high-speed wireless communication, and imaging. However, the development of tunable terahertz polarization modulation has been impeded by the lack of terahertz flexible manipulation measures at room temperature. We demonstrate an innovative element based on patterned spintronic terahertz sources, which can achieve efficient and great flexibility in polarization adjustment. The contributory effect of built-in electric fields on chiral terahertz waves is experimentally revealed by arranging different periodical microscale stripes, and swift polarization switching among linear, elliptical, and circular states is achieved by rotating ferromagnetic heterostructures. Notably, the ellipticity of the circle polarization state remains above 0.85 over a broadband terahertz bandwidth (from 0.74 to 1.66 THz). Furthermore, various polarization states dependent on geometry and azimuth angles provide insight into the physical mechanism of terahertz modulation by the built-in electric field. These findings contribute to the development of novel multifunctional terahertz devices, which pave the way to implement on-chip tunable terahertz polarization spectroscopy applications in biomedical detection and high-speed communication.

Photonic circuits, engineered to couple optical modes according to a specific map, serve as processors for classical and quantum light. The number of components typically scales with that of processed modes, thus correlating system size, circuit complexity, and optical losses. We present a photonic-circuit technology implementing large-scale unitary maps in free space, coupling a single input to hundreds of output modes in a two-dimensional compact layout. The map corresponds to a quantum walk of structured photons, realized through light propagation in three liquid-crystal metasurfaces, having their optic axes artificially patterned. Theoretically, the walk length and the number of connected modes can be arbitrary while keeping losses constant. The patterns can be designed to replicate multiple unitary maps. We also discuss limited reconfigurability by adjusting the overall birefringence and the relative displacement of the optical elements. These results lay the basis for the design of low-loss nonintegrated photonic circuits, primarily for manipulating multiphoton states in quantum regimes.

A single molecule is the building block of the material world and the smallest independently stable unit. Exploring single-molecule properties using optical, photonic, and optoelectronic techniques holds great scientific significance in revealing the molecular dynamics, molecular structures, and molecular quantum properties. Nano-optical techniques, such as single-molecule photoluminescence and Raman scattering, not only enable a comprehensive analysis of interactions and conformational dynamics through spectral analysis but also provide unparalleled insights into elucidating the intricate structure of single molecules through atomic-resolution imaging. The research of photonics based on single-molecule electroluminescence has brought new ideas and limitless possibilities to the design and manufacture of photonic information devices. Single-molecule optoelectronics, which leverages photoexcitation to modulate electrical properties, has significant contributions to elucidating charge transport characteristics and optimizing the optoelectronic functions realized by single-molecule devices. Moreover, the optoelectronic characterization based on the interaction of ultrafast optical pulses with single molecules provides unprecedented opportunities for exploring their dynamic behavior and regulation laws on ultrafast time scales. We provide a timely and comprehensive overview of the latest significant advancements pertaining to the optical, photonic, and optoelectronic properties of single molecules, thereby presenting a fresh perspective for research across diverse fields, including single-molecule photophysics and photochemistry.

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics recognized John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their pioneering work on artificial neural networks, which profoundly impacted the physical sciences, particularly optics and photonics. This perspective summarizes the Nobel laureates’ contributions, highlighting the physics-based principles and inspiration behind the development of modern artificial intelligence (AI) and also outlining some of the emerging major advances achieved in optics and photonics enabled by AI.