All-optical modulation with single photons using an electron avalanche.

Demid V Sychev, Peigang Chen, Yuheng Chen, Morris Yang, Colton Fruhling, Alexei Lagutchev, Alexander V Kildishev, Alexandra Boltasseva, Vladimir M Shalaev

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Article in Nature nanotechnology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Demid V Sychev *Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA. sychev@purdue.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9105-4693

Peigang Chen *Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.

Yuheng ChenBirck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.

Morris YangBirck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-7621-2278

Colton FruhlingBirck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8296-8802

Alexei LagutchevBirck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1426-2098

Alexander V KildishevBirck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.

Alexandra BoltassevaBirck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8905-2605

Vladimir M ShalaevBirck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA. shalaev@purdue.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8976-1102

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The distinctive characteristics of light, such as high-speed and low-loss propagation, low crosstalk and low power consumption, along with the unique quantum properties of photons, make it most suitable for various applications in communications, high-resolution imaging, optical computing and quantum information technologies. One limiting factor, however, is the weak optical nonlinearity of conventional media, which poses challenges for controlling light at ultralow intensities. Here we demonstrate all-optical modulation of the refractive index enabled by the electron avalanche process in silicon using a control beam with single-photon light intensities. The observed process corresponds to an extremely high nonlinear refractive index of

Identifiers

PMID41249495

DOI10.1038/s41565-025-02056-2

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.