Besides the diverse investigations on the interactions between intense laser fields and molecular systems, extensive research has been recently dedicated to exploring the response of nanosystems excited by well-tailored femtosecond laser fields. Due to the fact that nanostructures hold peculiar effects when illuminated by laser pulses, the underlying mechanisms and the corresponding potential applications can make significant improvements in both fundamental research and development of novel techniques. In this review, we provide a summarization of the strong field ionization occurring on the surface of nanosystems. The molecules attached to the nanoparticle surface perform as the precursor in the ionization and excitation of the whole nanosystem, the fundamental processes of which are yet to be discovered. We discuss the influence on nanoparticle constituents, geometric shapes and sizes, as well as the specific waveforms of the excitation laser fields. The intriguing characteristics observed in surface ion emission reflect how enhanced near field affects the localized ionizations and nanoplasma expansions, thereby paving the way for further precision controls on the light-and-matter interactions in the extreme spatial temporal levels.

The plasmon-induced nonlinear response has attracted great attention in micro-nano optics and optoelectronics applications, yet the underlying microscopic mechanism remains elusive. In this study, the nonlinear response of gold nanoclusters when exposed to a femtosecond laser pulse was investigated using time-dependent density functional theory. It was observed that the third-order tunneling current was augmented in plasmonic dimers, owing to a greater number of electrons in the dimer being excited from occupied to unoccupied states. These findings provide profound theoretical insights and enable the realization of accurate regulation and control of nonlinear effects induced by plasmons at the atomic level.

We calibrate the macroscopic vortex high-order harmonic generation (HHG) obtained by the quantitative rescattering (QRS) model to compute single-atom induced dipoles against that by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE). We show that the QRS perfectly agrees with the TDSE under the favorable phase-matching condition, and the QRS can accurately predict the main features in the spatial profiles of vortex HHG if the phase-matching condition is not good. We uncover that harmonic emissions from short and long trajectories are adjusted by the phase-matching condition through the time-frequency analysis and the QRS can simulate the vortex HHG accurately only when the interference between two trajectories is absent. This work confirms that it is an efficient way to employ the QRS model in the single-atom response for precisely simulating the macroscopic vortex HHG.

Optical vortices with tunable polarization states and topological charges are widely investigated in various physical systems and practical devices for high-capacity optical communication. However, this kind of structured light beams is usually generated using several polarization and spatial phase devices, which decreases the configurability of optical systems. Here, we have designed a kind of polarized optical multi-vortices generator based on the Stokes-Mueller formalism and cross-phase modulation. In our scheme, multi-channel generation of polarized vortex beams can be realized through a single optical element and a single-input Gaussian beam. The polarization states and orbital angular momentum of the generated light beams are all-optically controllable. Furthermore, the proposed polarized optical multi-vortices generator has also been demonstrated experimentally through one-step holographic recording in an azobenzene liquid-crystalline film and the experimental results agree with theoretical analysis.

The extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light beam carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) can be produced via high-order harmonic generation (HHG) due to the interaction of an intense vortex infrared laser and a gas medium. Here we show that the OAM spectrum of vortex HHG can be readily tailored by varying the radial node (from 0 to 2) in the driving laser consisting of two mixed Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams. We find that due to the change in spatial profile of HHG, the distribution range of the OAM spectrum can be broadened and its shape can be modified by increasing the radial node. We also show that the OAM mode range becomes much wider and its distribution shape becomes more symmetric when the harmonic order is increased from the plateau to the cutoff when the driving laser has the nonzero radial nodes. Through the map of coherence length and the evolution of harmonic field in the medium, we reveal that the favorable off-axis phase-matching conditions are greatly modified due to the change of intensity and phase distributions of driving laser with the radial node. We anticipate this work to stimulate some interests in generating the XUV vortex beam with tunable OAM spectrum through the gaseous HHG process achieved by manipulating the mode properties of the driving laser beam.

By using the difference of the band structure for the TE and TM waves in the metal—dielectric photonic crystals beyond the light cone and the birefringence of the anisotropic crystal, a one-dimensional photonic system is constructed to realize the bound states in the continuum (BICs). In addition to the BICs arising from the polarization incompatibility, the Friedrich—Wintgen BICs are also achieved when the leaking TM wave is eliminated due to the destructive interference of its ordinary and extraordinary wave components in the anisotropic crystal. A modified scheme favorable for practical application is also proposed. This scheme for BICs may help to suppress the radiation loss in the metal—dielectric photonic crystal systems.

Super-resolution imaging is vital for optical applications, such as high capacity information transmission, real-time bio-molecular imaging, and nanolithography. In recent years, technologies and methods of super-resolution imaging have attracted much attention. Different kinds of novel lenses, from the superlens to the super-oscillatory lens, have been designed and fabricated to break through the diffraction limit. However, the effect of the super-resolution imaging in these lenses is not satisfactory due to intrinsic loss, aberration, large sidebands, and so on. Moreover, these lenses also cannot realize multiple super-resolution imaging. In this research, we introduce the solid immersion mechanism to Mikaelian lens (ML) for multiple super-resolution imaging. The effect is robust and valid for broadband frequencies. Based on conformal transformation optics as a bridge linking the solid immersion ML and generalized Maxwell's fish-eye lens (GMFEL), we also discovered the effect of multiple super-resolution imaging in the solid immersion GMFEL.

The high degree of freedom and novel nonlinear phenomena of multimode fiber are attracting attention. In this work, we demonstrate a spatiotemporal mode-locked multimode fiber laser, which relies on microfiber knot resonance (MKR) via dissipative four-wave-mixing (DFMW) to achieve high-repetition-rate pulses. Apart from that, DFMW mode locking with switchable central wavelengths can also be obtained. It was further found that high pulse energy induced nonlinear effect of the dominant mode-locking mechanism transforming from DFMW to nonlinear Kerr beam cleaning effect (NL-KBC). The experimental results are valuable for further comprehending the dynamic characteristics of spatiotemporal mode-locked multimode fiber lasers, facilitating them much more accessible for applications.

Here we propose a hybrid polymer-LN waveguide for achieving phase-matched second-harmonic generation (SHG). From the aspect of super-mode theory, the geometric parameters of the hybrid semi-nonlinear waveguide were optimized to utilize both symmetric (even) and antisymmetric (odd) modes of the pump and SHG waves so as to facilitate phase matching with large modal overlap. Phase matching between a fundamental even (TE₀₀-like) mode at 1320 nm and a fundamental odd (TE₀₁-like) mode at 660 nm was found with a calculated modal overlap integral of 0.299, while utilizing the largest nonlinear coefficient d₃₃, and achieving an efficient calculated normalized conversion efficiency of 148% W^-1·cm^-2. Considering the fabrication feasibility of such hybrid waveguide with features including etchless, large dimension, and low structural sensitivity, we believe our findings would provide a useful reference for future on-chip efficient nonlinear conversion devices.

The authors demonstrate a Bull's eye cavity design that is composed of circular Bragg gratings and micropillar optical cavity in 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC) for single photon emission. Numerical calculations are used to investigate and optimize the emission rate and directionality of emission. Thanks to the optical mode resonances and Bragg reflections, the radiative decay rates of a dipole embedded in the cavity center is enhanced by 12.8 times as compared to that from a bulk 4H-SiC. In particular, a convergent angular distribution of the emission in far field is simultaneously achieved, which remarkably boost the collection efficiency. The findings of this work provide an alternative architecture to manipulate light—matter interactions for achieving high-efficient SiC single photon sources towards applications in quantum information technologies.

The semiclassical method based on Feynman's path-integral is in favor of uncovering the quantum tunneling effect, the classical trajectory description of the electron, and the quantum phase information, which can present an intuitive and transparent physical image of electron's propagation in comparison with the ab initio time-dependent Schrödinger equation. In this review, we introduce the basic theoretical concepts and development of several semiclassical methods as well as some of their applications in strong-field physics. Special emphasis is placed on extracting time delay on attosecond scale by the combination of the semiclassical method with phase of phase method. Hundreds of millions of trajectories are generally adopted to obtain a relatively high-resolution photoelectron spectrum, which would take a large amount of time. Here we also introduce several optimization approaches of the semiclassical method to overcome the time-consuming problem of violence calculation.

To measure and control the electron motion in atoms and molecules by the strong laser field on the attosecond time scale is one of the research frontiers of atomic and molecular photophysics. It involves many new phenomena and processes and raises a series of questions of concepts, theories, and methods. Recent studies show that the Coulomb potential can cause the ionization time lag (about 100 attoseconds) between instants of the field maximum and the ionization-rate maximum. This lag can be understood as the response time of the electronic wave function to the strong-field-induced ionization event. It has a profound influence on the subsequent ultrafast dynamics of the ionized electron and can significantly change the time—frequency properties of electron trajectory (an important theoretical tool for attosecond measurement). Here, the research progress of response time and its implications on attosecond measurement are briefly introduced.

A surrounding electromagnetic environment can engineer spontaneous emissions from quantum emitters through the Purcell effect. For instance, a plasmonic antenna can efficiently confine an electromagnetic field and enhance the fluorescent process. In this study, we demonstrate that a photonic microcavity can modulate plasmon-enhanced fluorescence by engineering the local electromagnetic environment. Consequently, we constructed a plasmon-enhanced emitter (PE-emitter), which comprised a nanorod and a nanodiamond, using the nanomanipulation technique. Furthermore, we controlled a polystyrene sphere approaching the PE-emitter and investigated in situ the associated fluorescent spectrum and lifetime. The emission of PE-emitter can be enhanced resonantly at the photonic modes as compared to that within the free spectral range. The spectral shape modulated by photonic modes is independent of the separation between the PS sphere and PE-emitter. The band integral of the fluorescence decay rate can be enhanced or suppressed after the PS sphere couples to the PE-emitters, depending on the coupling strength between the plasmonic antenna and the photonic cavity. These findings can be utilized in sensing and imaging applications.

Chirality is ubiquitous in natural world. Although with similar physical and chemical properties, chiral enantiomers could play different roles in biochemical processes. Discrimination of chiral enantiomers is extremely important in biochemical, analytical chemistry, and pharmaceutical industries. Conventional chiroptical spectroscopic methods are disadvantageous at a limited detection sensitivity because of the weak signals of natural chiral molecules. Recently, superchiral fields were proposed to effectively enhance the interaction between light and molecules, allowing for ultrasensitive chiral detection. Intensive theoretical and experimental works have been devoted to generation of superchiral fields based on artificial nanostructures and their application in ultrasensitive chiral sensing. In this review, we present a survey on these works. We begin with the introduction of chiral properties of electromagnetic fields. Then, the optical chirality enhancement and ultrasensitive chiral detection based on chiral and achiral nanostructures are discussed respectively. Finally, we give a short summary and a perspective for the future ultrasensitive chiral sensing.

Photonic-plasmonic hybrid microcavities, which possess a higher figure of merit Q/V (the ratio of quality factor to mode volume) than that of pure photonic microcavities or pure plasmonic nano-antennas, play key roles in enhancing light-matter interaction. In this review, we summarize the typical photonic-plasmonic hybrid microcavities, such as photonic crystal microcavities combined with plasmonic nano-antenna, whispering gallery mode microcavities combined with plasmonic nano-antenna, and Fabry-Perot microcavities with plasmonic nano-antenna. The physics and applications of each hybrid photonic-plasmonic system are illustrated. The recent developments of topological photonic crystal microcavities and topological hybrid nano-cavities are also introduced, which demonstrates that topological microcavities can provide a robust platform for the realization of nanophotonic devices. This review can bring comprehensive physical insights of the hybrid system, and reveal that the hybrid system is a good platform for realizing strong light-matter interaction.

We experimentally investigated the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from aligned O₂ and N₂ molecules in a linearly polarized laser field, and presented the dependence of the harmonic spectrum on the driving laser intensity and molecular alignment angle. The minimum position of HHG of O₂ varies with changing the laser intensity, which is caused by multi-orbital interference. However, the location of the observed minimum structure in N₂ harmonic spectrum remained unchanged upon changing the laser intensity. The mechanism of the spectral minimum for N₂ case is regarded as a Cooper-like minimum in HHG associated with the molecular electronic structure. This work indicates that harmonic spectroscopy can effectively uncover information about molecular structure and electron dynamics.

A theory of multiphoton photoemission is derived to explain the experimentally observed monotonic decrease with the wavelength in the electron yield of TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) by as large as four orders of magnitude. It is found that the fitting parameter corresponds to the energy position of Ti3d e_g and t_2g states, and the derived theory is a novel diagnostic of excited states in the conduction band, very importantly, applicable to individual NPs. The difference between four-photon slope NPs and three-photon slope NPs is attributed to the difference in defect density. The success of the theory in solving the puzzling result shows that thermal emission from high-lying levels may dominate over direct multiphoton ionization in solids when the photon number larger than four is required.

Bound states can be supported on the surface of a periodically corrugated perfect conductor known as spoof surface plasmon polaritons with their dispersion curves reside below the light line. Here we show that bound states in the continuum (BICs) can also be achieved in such systems. Two types of grating structures are proposed to suppress the radiation leakage and hence generate bound states. The first one is a simple grating with broad grooves in which multiple cavity modes are accommodated. Due to the symmetry incompatibility and the destructive interaction mainly from the TM₀ and TM₁ modes, BICs at the Γ point and at off-Γ points are both realized. The second one is a dimerized grating with two grooves in each unit cell. The destructive interaction between the modes in the two grooves can suppresses the radiation and BICs at the Γ point are observed. The Q factors of the whole bands can be further tuned by the dimerization strength effectively. This work may offer new opportunity for the applications of metallic grating in the low frequency bands.

Owing to the unique feature that the signal and reference waves of self-interference digital holography (SIDH) contain the same spatial information from the same point of object, compared with conventional digital holography, the SIDH has the special spatial coherence properties. We present a statistical optics approach to analyzing the formation of cross-correlation image in SIDH. Our study reveals that the spatial coherence of illumination light can greatly influence the imaging characteristics of SIDH, and the impact extent of the spatial coherence depends substantially on the recording distance of hologram. The theoretical conclusions are supported well by numerical simulation and optical experiments.

Due to the large exciton binding energy, two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) provide an ideal platform for studying excitonic states and related photonics and optoelectronics. Polarization states lead to distinct light-matter interactions which are of great importance for device applications. In this work, we study polarized photoluminescence spectra from intralayer exciton and indirect exciton in WS₂ and WSe₂ atomic layers, and interlayer exciton in WS₂/WSe₂ heterostructures by radially and azimuthally polarized cylindrical vector laser beams. We demonstrated the same in-plane and out-of-plane polarization behavior from the intralayer and indirect exciton. Moreover, with these two laser modes, we obtained interlayer exciton in WS₂/WSe₂ heterostructures with stronger out-of-plane polarization, due to the formation of vertical electric dipole moment.