Publication

• W.-Y. Wang, S. Liu, X.-Y. Xu, Q. Tong, H. Ge*, Y. Shen*, M.-H. Lu*, "Twistsonics: engineering acoustic topological textures in moiré sound lattices" Adv. Mater. in press (2026)

• C. Song, J. He, X. Xie*, Q. Wang, Y. Shen*, F. Sun, G. Yuan*, "Extreme Energy Concentration of Band-Limited Superoscillatory Vortices for Efficient Optical Micromanipulation" Optica in press (2026)

• X. Zeng, J. Wang, Y. Chen, G. Liu, Z. Guo, Y. Zhou, X. Yang, C. Wang, D. Wei, H. Chen, Y. Shen*, A. Forbes*, Hong Gao*, "Optical hopfions with arbitrary two winding numbers" Light: Sci. & Appl. in press (2026)

• Q. Wang, P. A. Quinto-Su, X. Xie, X. Xie, C. Tu*, Y. Shen*, "Optical Möbius Snails" Laser Photonics Rev. in press (2026)

• H. Cao, Vasu Dev, J. Schwab, W. Yu, B. Wang, Z. Guo, H. Giessen, D. Qiao*, Y. Shen*, "Optical Quasicrystal Coding for High-Precision Single-Shot 3D Reconstruction" Light Dynography in press (2026)

• Z. Yang, W. Ji, C. Zhang, S. Li, Y. Zhang, H. Zhang*, J. Ding*, Y. Shen*, "Optical Janus Skyrmion" ACS Photonics in press (2026)

• Q. Zhang, W. Yu, J. Liu, Z. Nie, Y. Shen*, S. Lin*, "Encoding topological magnetic spin textures with topological light" Nano Lett. in press (2026)

• H. Ji, W. Wei, H. Zhang, J. Hu, Y. Qian, Y. Shen*, X. Li*, Y. Tai*, "Ray-wave vector Mathieu beams with independently tunable polarization orders" Appl. Phys. Lett. in press (2026)

• X. Xie, O. Lu, H. Xu, J. Zhou, Y. Shen, C. Min, Y. Zhang, X. Yuan, "Pupil-Plane Inversion Symmetry Governs the Photonic Spin Hall Effect for Optical Manipulation" ACS Photonics in press (2026)
  ◊ On the cover 

• V. Dev, Y. Shen*, "Freespace "twistronics": moiré structured light for optical supertopologies" Light: Sci. & Appl. 15, 396 (2026)

• S. Schezwen, Y. Shen*, "Space-time electron wave packets with tunable skyrmion textures" APS Open Sci. 1, 000163 (2026)
  ◊ Editor’s Suggestion

• Y.-P. Tang, Z. Guo, Z.-Y. Wang, L. Yu, L.-Y. Wang, N. Mata-Cervera, Y. Wang, N. Wang, Y. Shen*, L.-L. Ma,* Y.-Q. Lu,* "High-speed electrically driven liquid-crystal compact optical skyrmion encoder" Laser Photonics Rev. in press (2026)

• Z. Zhang, Z. Ye, Z. Guo*, Z. Liu, Z. Sun, Z. Zhang, J. Ma, K. Inoue, Y. Shen*, D. Deng*, "Can non-orthogonal bases form stable skyrmionic beams?" Laser Photonics Rev. in press (2026)

• H. Zhao, Y. Zhang, I. Nape, S. Wu, Y. Ji, C. Zhang, Y. Shen, A. Forbes, L. Feng, "Chip-mediated manipulation of photonic quantum skyrmions" Nat. Phys. in press (2026)

• Z. Guo, C. Zhang, X. Xie, G. Liu, Z. Chang, P. Zhang*, Y. Shen*,"Topological preservation of quantum skyrmions in perturbed biphoton channels" Adv. Photonics 8(5), 056011 (2026)

• W. Yu, N. Papasimakis, N.I. Zheludev, Y. Shen*, "Localized E⋅B structures in propagating toroidal electromagnetic pulses" Opt. Express 34(19), 36176-36183 (2026)

• Q. Liu, X. Fu, Z. Zhang, A. Forbes, S. Mahler, A. Friesem, N. Davidson, Q. Sheng, W. Shi, J. Yao, V. Pal, Z. Qiao, G. Xie, S. Fu, Z. Zhang, C. Gao, C. Liu, J. Liao, Z. He, Q. Xiao, X. Zhang, Y. Yang, S. Xiao, Y. Kivshar, Q. Song, S. Han, Q. Wang, H. Kim, H. Park, R. Ma, Z. Zhang, C. Gao, B. Cao, C. Yang, C. Bao, Y. Zhang, P. Chen, Y. Zhang, L. Peng, Y. Yang, T. Omatsu, Y. Ren, T. Liu, C. Zhao, X. Lu, Z. Wang, Y. Hu, Y. Shen, "Roadmap on Structured Light Lasers" J. Opt. in press (2026)

• Y. Liu, S. Chen, Z. Guo, K. Zhu, Y. Chen, Y. Cai, Y. Shen*, F. Wang*, "Partial coherence control deliversskyrmionic topological resilience and transitions" Nat. Commun. 17, 10308 (2026)

• J. Wang, S. Pang, Z. Che, C. Liu, W. Liu, H. Xie, S. Li, Z. Du, X. Hu, Y. Li, B. Wang*, L. Shi*, K.Y. Bliokh*, Y. Shen*, "Dynamic Water-Wave Tweezers" Phys. Rev. Res. 8, L032033 (2026) 

◊ Letter

• G. Wang, J. Feng, T. Zheng, Y. Shen, X. Chen, B. Wang,“Optical quasisymmetry groups for meron lattices” Phys. Rev. Res. 8, 033226 (2026)

• H. Zhang, Z. Cui, Q. Jin, K. Liu, H. Li, Y. Tai, J. Hu, Y. Shen*, Y. Qian*, X. Li*, "Power-Exponent-Accelerated Ring-Shaped Optical Skyrmion Textures" ACS Photonics 13(17), 5214–5222 (2026)
  ◊ On the cover

• N. Mata-Cervera, Z. Guo, Y. Shen*, "Unfolding Unstable Skyrmionic Polarization Textures” Laser Photonics Rev. e71667 (2026)

• A.A. Wang, Y. Ma, Z. Zhao, Y. Cai, S.M. Morris, H. He, Z. Xie, P. Shi, Y. Shen, A.V. Zayats, X. Yuan, C. He, “Redefining topological robustness in optical polarization fields through a generalized skyrmion number” Nat. Commun. 17, 8539 (2026)

• S. Fu, R. Lu, Z. Zhou, Z. Han, X. Wang, Y. Bai, Z. Guo, Y. Shen, A. Forbes, C. Gao, "Orbital angular momentum tailoring toward high-dimensional photonics" Photonics Insights 5(3), R10 (2026)
  ◊ Invited Review

• A. Zacheo, M. Marangi, N. Mata-Cervera, Y. Shen, G. Adamo, C. Soci, "Topology-guided vortices in a polariton condensate" Nat. Mater. in press (2026)

• Y. Shen*, Q. Zhan, H. Giessen, "Topologically Structured Light in Nanophotonics" Nanophotonics 15: e70187 (2026)

◊ Editorial for special issue: Topologically Structured Light in Nanophotonics

• S. Carbajo, A. Borthakur, J. Hirschman, Y. Li, Y. Wang, H. Zhang, S.W. Bahk, A.D. Piazza, A. Forbes, S. Gessner, M. Lewenstein, I. Nam, E. Otte, J. Rozensweig, Y. Shen, L. Song, Y. Tian, Y. Wang, L. Wright, X. Wu, "Structured light at the extreme: harnessing spatiotemporal control for high-field laser–matter interactions" Adv. Photonics 8(4), 044003 (2026)

• N. Mata-Cervera, M.A. Porras, Y. Shen* "Non-spreading meronic spin defects around optical vortices" Rep. Prog. Phys. 89, 077901 (2026)

◊ Featured Article

◊ IOP Progress In Series “Optical vortices provide a natural way to create topologies”

• T. Kleine, P. Ornelas, C. Peters, Z. Guo, B. Sephton, I. Nape, Y. Shen, A. Forbes "Topological robustness of orbital angular momentum entanglement in stochastic channels" Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 050602 (2026)

• J. Wu†, Y. Lyu†, B. Wang, Y. Shen*, R. Wang*, "Electromagnetic Tokamak Field Effect Induced by Toroidal Dipole Metamaterials" Electromagnetic Science in press (2026)

• N. Mata-Cervera, D. K. Sharma, R. Paniagua-Dominguez, Y. Shen*, M.A. Porras* "Diffraction-free natural optical skyrmions and their subwavelength confinement around vortices" Laser Photonics Rev. 20(21), e71496 (2026)

• J. Yao†, X. Xie†, Y. Meng, S. Sun, J. Hu, Y. Shen*, Y. Yang "Optical skyrmions in Poisson spots" Optica 13(6), 1184-1189 (2026)
  ◊ NTU News "Creating complex light patterns using a two-century-old light phenomenon"
  ◊ NTU Singapore Facebook/Linkin/X

◊ Optica.worldwide & Optica Facebook

• P.-Y. Feng, B. Bai, J. Yang, X. Xie, F. Han, J.-Y. Zhang, H.-R. Chen, Y. Shen, C.-W. Qiu, H.-B. Sun "Free-Space Skyrmions Radiated from a Geometric Phase Aperture" ACS Nano 20(23), 16769–16775 (2026)

• H. Cao, D. Qiao, M. Han, W. Yu, B. Wang, Y. Shen*, "Geometry-aware super-resolution fusion calibration for binocular structured light 3D reconstruction" Commun. Phys. 9, 297 (2026)

• S. Shi, H. Zhou, J. Shao, P. Tang, B. Wang, M. Liang, Y. Lyu, B. Malomed, Y. Shen, R. Wang, "Toroidal helical pulses" Commun. Phys. 9, 287 (2026)

• S. Zheng, J. Luan, T. Wu, L. Yi, Z. Wan, Y. Meng, Y. Shen, K. Wang, J. Wang, D. Liu, T. Ming, M. Zhang, "Fully tunable on-chip meta-generator for multidimensional Poincaré sphere mapping" Light: Sci. & Appl. 15, 341 (2026)

• X. Xie, S. Li, G. Li, P. Shi, Y. Shen*, X. Yuan*, "Topological robustness and phase transitions of optical skyrmions determined by singularities" Photonics Res. 14(6), 2731-2752 (2026)

• Z. Zhang, X. Xie, D. Deng, Y. Shen* "Free-Space Topologically Structured Light: From Skyrmions to Generalized Spin Textures (Invited)" Laser & Optoelectronics Progress 63 (9): 0900002 (2026) 

◊ Invited Review

• Y. Liu, L. Zhu, X. Xie, H. Zhang, W. Gao, B. Gu, Y. Xu, L. Zhou, Y. Wen, J. Sun*, Y. Shen*, J. Zhou* "Broadband coloured skyrmions generated by on-chip ferroelectric spherulites" eLight 6, 18 (2026).
  ◊ News & Views "Broadening the color palette of optical skyrmions" Light: Sci. & Appl. 15, 374 (2026)
  ◊ On the cover [link] 

◊ eLight video [link]
◊ AAAS EurekAlert “Skyrmions become colorful now!”

• L. Chen, X.Y. Li, Y. Shen*, Z. Gu, J.L. Su, Q. Xiao, S.Q. Huang, S.L. Qin, Q. Ma, J.W. You*, T.J. Cui*, "Programmable skyrmions for communication and sensing" Nat. Electron. 9, 479–488 (2026)
  ◊ Nature Research Briefing "A reconfigurable skyrmion device for communications and sensing applications" Nat Electron 9, 465–466 (2026)
  ◊ On the hero image [link]
  ◊ TheNewPhysics: Scientists just made “programmable knots of light”

• J. Ma, D. Liu, S. Liu, J. Yang, N. Mata-Cervera, B. Chen, X. Li, G. Qiu, K. Chen, H. Liu, H. Ni, D. Wei, Z. Niu, Y. Yu, Y. Shen*, L. Liu*, X. Wang*, J. Liu* "High-performance sources of multidimensionally engineered quantum light based on monolithic microcavity-metalens interfaces" eLight 6, 16 (2026)
  ◊ On the cover [link]

• A. Forbes, H. Ren, T. Omatsu, Y. Shen, L. Chen, "Introduction to the special issue on Structured Light: From Nanophotonics to Quantum" Photonics Res. 14(4), SLFN1-SLFN3 (2026) 

◊ Editorial

• Z. Guo, Y. Shen*, "Quantum topology emerges at near field" Light: Sci. & Appl. 15, 224 (2026)
  ◊ News & Views

• C. Peters, N. Mata-Cervera, P. Ornelas, R. Warmbier, Y. Shen*, A. Forbes*, "Extracting topological features of skyrmionic light: a tutorial" Adv. Photonics 8(2), 023001 (2026)
  ◊ Invited Tutorial 

◊ On the cover [link]

• X. Yang, M. Fan, H. Zhang, K. Liu, J. Hu, Y. Tai, Y. Shen*, X. Li*, "Fractional Orbital Angular Momentum Sorting Using Wind Spiral Transformation" Nanophotonics 15(8) e70086 (2026)

• J. Wang, X. Yang, Y. Chen, Z. Ye, X, Zeng, Y. Zhou, S. Zhang, C.M. Cisowski, C. Wang, K. Inoue, Y. Shen, S. Franke-Arnold, H. Gao, "Storage and retrieval of optical skyrmions with topological characteristics" Phys. Rev. A 113, 043528 (2026)

• R. Xie, N. Mata-Cervera, X. Xie, Y. Shen*, “Metasurfaces and metadevices for topological electromagnetic waves” Adv. Phys. Res. 5, e00209 (2026)
  ◊ Invited Perspective

◊ On the cover [link]

• Y. Fu, R. Xie, N. Mata-Cervera, X. Xie, R. Wang, X. Zhou, H. Yang*, Y. Shen*, “Free-form flexible metasurfaces robustly generating microwave skyrmions” Adv. Mater. 38 (25), e18268 (2026)
  ◊ On the cover (Adv. Mater. 38: e73159 25/2026)
  ◊ AAAS EurekAlert "Wear topologies on your body: Flexible metasurfaces enable topologically stable skyrmions"

• X. Ma, H. Zhang, W. Wei, Y. Tai, Y. Qian, X. Li*, Y. Shen*, "Observation of superoscillation moiré superlattices" Adv. Photonics 8(2), 026008 (2026)
  ◊ Chinese Laser Press (CLP) Editorial Highlight & Video [link]

• N. Mata-Cervera, X. Xie, M. A. Porras, Y. Shen*, "Nondiffracting polarization textures enabled by anisotropic loss" Opt. Lett. 51(3), 768-771 (2026)

• N. Mata-Cervera, A.N. Vetlugin, C. Soci, M. A. Porras, Y. Shen*, "Gouy phase-assisted Zeno effect for protecting light structure in random media" Phys. Rev. Res. 8, 023036 (2026)

• L. Chen, X.Y. Li, J.L. Su, Z. Gu, Y.M. Ning, Z.C. Yu, Q. Xiao, Z.X. Cai, Q. Ma*, Y. Shen*, J.W. You*, T.J. Cui, "Harmonic Plasmonic Skyrmions with Time-Varying Manipulation" Laser Photonics Rev. 20(10), e01785 (2026)

• L. Niu, X. Feng, X. Zhang, W. Yu, Q. Wang, Y. Lang, Q. Xu, X. Chen, J. Ma, H. Qiu, Y. Shen*, W. Zhang*, J. Han* "Electric-Magnetic-Switchable Free-Space Skyrmions in Toroidal Light Pulses via a Nonlinear Metasurface," Optica 13(2), 203-210 (2026)
  ◊ Optica OPN News “Switchable Skyrmions Point to Terahertz Data Links”
  ◊ Optica News: New device switches terahertz pulses between electric and magnetic skyrmions
  ◊ ajnet science: Physics lays the foundation for 6G communication
  ◊ NanoWerk: New device switches terahertz pulses between electric and magnetic skyrmions
  ◊ MoneyControl: Scientists in China found a new way to control light — Could this be the future of wireless?
  ◊ IOP Physicsworld "Switchable skyrmions light up terahertz communications"

• W. Zhen, Z. Qing, W. Yan, Z. Ren, X. Wang, H. Wang, J. Ding, Y. Shen*, "Reconfiguring Optical Skyrmion Topology in Free Space" Optica 13(2), 188-194 (2026)

• Z. Guo, C. Peters, N. Mata-Cervera, A. N. Vetlugin, R. Guo, P. Zhang, A. Forbes*, Y. Shen*, "Topological robustness of classical and quantum optical skyrmions in atmospheric turbulence," Nat. Commun. 17, 2085 (2026)
  ◊ Clear Sky Science highlight

• Y. Shen*, N. Papasimakis, N. I. Zheludev, "Space-Time Superoscillation," Nat. Commun. 17, 2053 (2026)

• P. Shi, X. Gou, Q. Zhang, W. Wei, H. Wu, Z. Zhu, Y. Shen*, X. Yuan*, "Observation of strong spin-orbit couplings in a plasmonic spin-twistronics topological lattice," Nat. Commun. 17, 1905 (2026)

• L. Vignjevic, Y. Shen, N. Papasimakis, N.I. Zheludev, "State Tomography of Toroidal Light Pulses" J. Opt. 28, 025601 (2026)

• Q. Wang , X. Xie, J. Zeng, S. Chen , Y. Shen*, C. Tu*, X. Xie, "Generation and transformation of topological textures via spin-orbit interaction" Phys. Rev. Appl. 25, 014008 (2026)

• S. Wang, X. Xie, B. Xu, Y. Shen, Y. Zheng, "Plasmonic Skyrmion-Based Microfluidic-Integrated Flexible Microwave Meta-Resonator for Noninvasive Intelligent Flow Rate Sensing" IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech. 74(4), 3833-3844 (2026)

• X. Xie, Y. Shen* "Topological light waves manipulating particles: A perspective" Light Manip. Appl. 1:202501 (2026)
  ◊ Invited Perspective

• R. Wang* and Y. Shen*, “Hybrid Toroidal Vortices: Many Topologies Unified in One Light Pulse” Optics & Photonics News Dec (2025)
  ◊ Top 30 Optics in 2025 [link]
  ◊ “Optics in 2025” Cover Art [link]
  ◊ Highlight on the contents page [link]

• S. Liu, X. Xie, P. Shi*, Y. Shen*, “Optical Spin Angular Momentum: Properties, Topologies, Detection and Applications” Nanomaterials 15(23), 1798 (2025)
  ◊ Invited review

• W. Yu and Y. Shen* "Higher-order spatiotemporal wave packets with Gouy phase dynamics" Nanophotonics 14(24), 4435-4446 (2025)
  ◊ Invited for special issue "Topologically structured light"

• H. Li and Y. Shen* "Visualized geometric phase of caustic geometric beams" Phys. Rev. A 112, 063515 (2025)

• R. Wang*, S. Shi, Z. Zhang, B.-Z. Wang, N. Mata-Cervera, M. A. Porras, Y. Shen*, "Observation of helical pulses" Nat. Commun. 16, 10927  (2025)
  ◊ AAAS EurekAlert "Flying electromagnetic conches"

• J. Jia, J. Ren, S. Zhou, Z. Zeng, H. Lin, Y. Hu, Z. Li, Y. Shen, Z. Chen, X. Chen, Y. Cai, S. Fu, "Electrically tuning photonic topological quasiparticles in synthetic two-level system" Nat. Phys. 21, 1885–1892 (2025)
  ◊ Highlighted by News & Views "Electrically tuned light topology" Nat. Phys. 21, 1869–1870 (2025)

• K. Lim, V. Mancois, H. Wu, Y. Shen, D. Wilkowski, "Super-resolution optical trapping of multiple cold atoms" Phys. Rev. A 112, L051307 (2025)
  ◊ Letter

• L. Gao†, Y. Shen†, S. Prokhorenko, Y. Nahas, L. Bellaiche "Poincaré sphere engineering of dynamical ferroelectric topological solitons" Phys. Rev. B 112, L121102 (2025)
  ◊ Letter
  ◊ AAAS EurekAlert "Scientists made a “knob” to tune topological spin textures in materials"

• S. Wang, Y. Shen, Y. Zheng, "Coplanar Hybridization of Half-Mode Magnetic Plasmonic Skyrmions: Realization and Application in a Flexible Wearable Microwave Sweat Metasensor" IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech. 73(11), 9415-9428 (2025)

• Z. Zhang*, L. Kong, L. Zhang, X. Pan, T. Das, B. Wang, B. Liu, F. Wang, I. Nape, Y. Shen*, A. Forbes* "Structured light meets machine intelligence" eLight 5, 26 (2025)
  ◊ Featured Article (Journal highlights); On the cover [link]
  ◊ MIT Technology Review - News [link]

• H. Wu, N. Mata-Cevera, H. Wang, Z. Zhu, C. Qiu, Y. Shen* "Photonic Torons with 3D Topology Transitions and Tunable Spin Monopoles" Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 063802 (2025)
  ◊ AAAS EurekAlert “Blowing photonic “pinwheels”: Scientists create a “living” 3D topology of light”
  ◊ ScienXX “Physicists create first “wind turbine” from light”
  ◊ Inovação Tecnológica “Soprando cata-ventos de luz: Criadas formas 3D "vivas" de luz”

• X. Xie, Y. Shen* "Vortex 6.0 all-on-chip" Light: Sci. & Appl. 14, 322 (2025)
  ◊ News & Views

• X. Zeng, J. Fang, H. Wu, J. Wang, Y. Chen, Y. Zhou, X. Yang, C. Wang, D. Wei, H. Chen, H. Gao, Y. Shen* "Tailoring Ultra-High-Order Optical Skyrmions" Laser & Photonics Rev. 19, e00732 (2025)
  ◊ On the cover [link]

• S. Lin, X. Zhu, Y. Shen, F. Wang, X. Chen, G. Gbur, Y. Cai, J. Yu, "Statistically stationary random light for high-security encryption" Optica 12(8), 1261-1268 (2025)

• Z. Zhang†, X. Xie†, C. Zhuang, B. Wu, Z. Liu, B. Wu, D. Mihalache, Y. Shen*, D. Deng*, "Topological protection degrees of optical skyrmions and their electrical control" Photonics Res. 13(9), B1-B11 (2025)

• N. Mata-Cervera, D.K. Sharma, Y. Shen, R. Paniagua-Dominguez, M.A. Porras, "Skyrmionic Polarization Texture around the Phase Singularity of Optical Vortices" Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 033805 (2025)
  ◊ AAAS EurekAlert “Phase singularity or skyrmion? Surprise: it’s both!”

• H. Xu†, X. Xie†, C. Zhang, Y. Zhang, X. Yuan, Y. Shen*, C. Min*, "Topological Magnetic Lattices for On-Chip Nanoparticle Trapping and Sorting" Nano Lett. 25(26), 10611–10618 (2025)

• W. Lin*, N. Mata-Cervera, Y. Ota, Y. Shen*, S. Iwamoto*, "Space-Time Optical Hopfion Crystals", Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 083801 (2025)
  ◊ JST & Science Tokyo & U Tokyo “Discovery of 3D periodic structure of flying hopfions: a carrier of high-density, ultra-stable information”
  ◊ ScienceDaily “Scientists just created spacetime crystals made of knotted light”
  ◊ AAAS EurekAlert "Scientists discovered hopfion crystals – which are flying in spacetime"

• L. Rao, J. Wang, X. Wang, S. Wu, X. Zhao, W. Liu, R. Xie, Y. Shen*, L. Shi*, J. Zi, "Meron spin textures in momentum space spawning from bound states in the continuum" Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 026203 (2025)
  ◊ PRL Editor's Suggestion [link]
  ◊ Featured in Physics: Photonic Spin Textures [link]
  ◊ AAAS EurekAlert "Topological textures from a simple photonic crystal slab"
  ◊ Science News Today "Scientists Discover Hidden Patterns of Light That Could Transform the Future of Technology"
  ◊ [YouTube] "How Micro-Structured Materials Shape Light"

• A. Forbes, M. Swilliam, K. A. Forbes, Y. Shen, C. He, S. Xiao, J. B. Götte, G. K. Samanta, T. Tahara, B. Malomed, V. N. Astratov, C. Rosales-Guzmán, P. Vasa, P. Bermel, M. Wubs, R. Borrego-Varillas, C. Vozzi, Y. Liu, C. Rowland, E. Pappalardo, L. Paterson, P. H. S. Ribeiro, M. Qiu, J. Teng, Y. Saifullah, C. Qian,  H. Chen, “A perspective on 25 years of advances as reported in the Journal of Optics” J. Opt. 27, 060202 (2025)
  ◊ 25th Anniversary Collection [link]

• H. Wu, W. Zhou, Z. Zhu, Y. Shen*, "Optical skyrmion lattices accelerating in a free-space mode" APL Photonics 10, 050804 (2025)
  ◊ Featured Article
  ◊ Special Collection: Angular Momentum of Light
  ◊ On the cover [link]

• P. Chen, K.X. Lee, T.C. Meiler, Y. Shen*, "Topological Momentum Skyrmions in Mie Scattering Fields" Nanophotonics 14(12): 2211–2217 (2025)

• Y. Shen*, "Topological light waves: skyrmions can fly!" Optics & Photonics News 36, 26-33 (2025)
  ◊ On the cover - May 2025 Issue [link]

• Y. Shen*, "Twist metrology with twisted light in fibers" Light: Advanced Manufacturing 6:28 (2025)
  ◊ News & Views

• C. Mitra, C. S. Madasu, L. Gabardos, C. C. Kwong, Y. Shen, J. Ruostekoski, D. Wilkowski, "Topological optical skyrmion transfer to matter" APL Photonics 10, 046113 (2025)
  ◊ Featured Article
  ◊ Special Collection: Angular Momentum of Light

• Y. Shen*, H. Wang, and S. Fan, "Free-space topological optical textures," Adv. Opt. Photonics 17(2) 295-374 (2025)
  ◊ Tutorial; On the reprint cover [link]

• N. Mata-Cervera*, Z. Xie, C. Li, H. Yu, H. Ren, Y. Shen, S. A. Maier "Tailoring propagation-invariant topology of optical skyrmions with dielectric metasurfaces" Nanophotonics 14(23), 4069-4077 (2025)

• J. Pan, Z Wang, Y. Meng, X. Fu*, Y. Shen*, Q. Liu, "Photonic Landau levels in an astigmatic frequency-degenerate laser," Commun. Phys. 8, 111 (2025)
  ◊ Focus: Synthetic dimensions for topological and quantum phases

• Y. Shen*, N. I. Zheludev, "Picophotonics goes to higher dimensions," Adv. Photonics 7(1), 010502 (2025)
  ◊ News & Views

• B. Wang, Z. Che, C. Cheng, C. Tong, L. Shi*, Y. Shen*, K. Y. Bliokh*, J. Zi*, "Topological water-wave structures manipulating particles" Nature 638, 394–400 (2025)

◊ Nature Video "‘Aqua tweezers’ manipulate particles with water waves" [Nature YouTube Channel]
◊ WPI-SKCM2 News: Discovering topological structures in water [link]
◊ TECHSPOT news [link] Gizmodo news [link]

◊ NTU / SPMS dissemination [Facebook] [Linkedin] [Instagram] [WeChat]

◊ NTU Singapore News “New technique manipulates water waves to precisely control floating objects” [link]

◊ NTU Singapore YouTube Highlight; NTU's HEY! -- Waterbending

◊ American Mathematical Society (AMS) Math in the Media highlight "Möbius strips in water waves”
◊ Other news release [links]
◊ Nature Mechanical Engineering Collection “Mechanical engineering across disciplines” [link]

• R. Wang*, B. Ying, S. Shi, J. Wang, B.-Z. Wang, M. Liang, and Y. Shen*, "Hybrid electromagnetic toroidal vortices," Sci. Adv. 11, eads4797 (2025)
  ◊ EurekAlert | AAAS "A new family member of toroidal electromagnetic excitations" [link]
  ◊ Top 30 Optics in 2025 Optica OPN [link] Highlight on the OPN contents page [link]

• H. Guo, T. Das, H. Wu, V. Dev, Z. Zhu, and Y. Shen*, "Self-healing of optical skyrmionic beams" J. Opt. 27, 025604 (2025)
  ◊ Editor's Pick; Focus Issue on Optical Skyrmions

• S. Wang, R. Xie, Y. Shen, J. Gao, X. Wang, Z. Zhang, J. Ren, W. Zhu, G. Zhai, "Single-Substrate Circularly Polarized Huygens’ Metasurface with Independent Modulation of Electric and Magnetic Impedances" IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech. 73(8) 4658-4670 (2025)

• S. Shi, R. Wang, M. Xiong, Q. Zhou, B.-Z. Wang, Y. Shen, "Double-Helix Singularity and Vortex-Antivortex annihilation in Space-Time Helical Pulses" Nanophotonics 14(6): 741–747 (2025)
  ◊ Special Issue: Spatiotemporal Optical Fields

• J. Hu, W. Wei, X. Li, Y. Shen, Q. Zhan, G. Li, Y. Qian, "Orbital Angular Momentum of Structured Vortex Beams Induced by Intensity Singularity" Laser Photonics Rev. 19, 2401064 (2024)

• R. Wang, P.-Y. Bao, X. Feng, J. Wu, B.-Z. Wang, and Y. Shen, "Single-antenna super-resolution positioning with nonseparable toroidal pulses" Commun. Phys. 7, 356 (2024)

• T. He, Y. Meng, L. Wang, H. Zhong, N. Mata-Cervera, D. Li, P. Yan, Q. Liu, Y. Shen,* Q. Xiao* "Optical skyrmions from metafibers with subwavelength features," Nat. Commun. 15, 10141 (2024)
  ◊ SpringerNature Research Communities highlight [link]
  ◊ Phys.Org highlight [link]

• V. Hakobyan, Y. Shen, and E. Brasselet, "Unitary spin-orbit optical-skyrmionic wave plates" Phys. Rev. Appl. 22, 054038 (2024)

• Z. Wang, Z. Shi, Y. Shen, Q. Liu, X. Fu, "Squeezed coherent states of geometric beams" ACS Photonics 11(10), 4407–4413 (2024)

• R. Wang, D.-T. Yang, T. Xin, S. Shi, B.-Z. Wang, Y. Shen*, "Optical Atompilz: Propagation-invariant strongly longitudinally polarized toroidal pulses" Appl. Phys. Lett. 125, 111101 (2024).

• W. Wei, M. Tang, H. Zhang,Y. Tai, Y. Shen*, X. Li* "Mathieu ray-wave structured light with self-healing elliptical accelerating vortices," Opt. Lett. 49(19), 5507-5510 (2024)
  ◊ Editors' Pick

• R. Wang, P.-Y. Bao, Z.-Q. Hu, S. Shi, B.-Z. Wang, N. I. Zheludev, Y. Shen*, “Observation of resilient propagation and free-space skyrmions in toroidal electromagnetic pulses” Appl. Phys. Rev. 11, 031411 (2024)
  ◊ Featured Article
  ◊ EurekAlert News "Electromagnetic vortex cannon Launched!"
  ◊ Electronics Weekly "Microwave ‘smoke rings’"
  ◊ IOP PhysicsWorld News
  ◊ TechLinked News [YouTube]
  ◊ Sabine Daily Science News [YouTube]

• Y. Wang, E. A. Chan, C. Rendón-Barraza, Y. Shen, E. Plum, J.-Y. Ou, "2D Super-Resolution Metrology Based on Superoscillatory Light," Adv. Sci. 11, 2404607 (2024)

• J. Pan, H. Wang, Z. Shi, Y. Shen*, X. Fu, Q. Liu, "Frequency-astigmatism asymmetric nonlinear conversion of structured light lasers," Appl. Phys. Lett. 125, 091107 (2024)

• Z. Wang, Z. Zhan, A. N. Vetlugin, J.-Y. Ou, Q. Liu, Y. Shen*, X. Fu*, "Structured light analogy of quantum squeezed state," Light: Sci. & Appl. 13, 297 (2024)

• Y. Shen*, N. Papasimakis, and N. I. Zheludev, “Nondiffracting supertoroidal pulses and optical “Kármán vortex streets”” Nat. Commun. 15, 4863 (2024)
  ◊ Nature Communities “Toroidal vortex streets stably flowing in light”

• Y. Wang, E. A. Chan, C. Rendón, Y. Shen, E. Plum, K. F. MacDonald, J-Y Ou, N. I. Zheludev, “3D positional metrology of a virus-like nanoparticle with topologically structured light,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 221102 (2024)

• Y. Shen*, Q. Zhang, P. Shi, L. Du, X. Yuan, A. V. Zayats,  "Optical skyrmions and other topological quasiparticles of light," Nat. Photonics 18, 15–25 (2024)
  ◊ Review
  ◊ Wolfram Community Support [link]
  ◊ Commentary Highlight: Photonics Insights 3(1), C02 (2024)

• Y. Shen*, C. He, Z. Song, B. Chen, H. He, Y. Ma, J. A.J. Fells, S. J. Elston, S. M. Morris, M. J. Booth, A. Forbes, “Topologically controlled multiskyrmions in photonic gradient-index lenses” Phys. Rev. Appl. 21, 024025 (2024)
  ◊ AAAS Highlight “Complex topological skyrmions from a “needle””

• Z. Zhang,* W. He,  S. Zhao, Y. Gao, X. Wang, X. Li, Y. Wang, Y. Ma, Y. Hu, Y. Shen* and C. Zhao, "Spatial nonlinear conversion of structured light for machine learning based ultra-accurate information networks" Laser Photonics Rev. 18, 2301225 (2024)
  ◊ On the cover [link]
  ◊ SciTechDaily "How Structured Light and AI Are Shaping the Future of Communication" [link]

• L. Hai, Z. Zhang, S. Liu, L. Li, Z. Zhou, Q. Wang, Y. Gao, C. Gao, Y. Shen, S. Fu, "Intra-Cavity Laser Manipulation of High-Dimensional Non-Separable States" Laser Photonics Rev. 18, 2300593 (2024)
  ◊ On the cover [link]

• N. Mata-Cervera, D. K. Sharma, R. M. Veetil, T. W.W. Mass, M. A. Porras, and R. Paniagua-Dominguez, "Observation of Exploding Vortex Beams Generated by Amplitude and Phase All-Dielectric Metasurfaces" ACS Photonics 11(7), 2713-2721 (2024)

• J. Huang, W. Yu, H. Pi, Y. Shen, J. Yan, X. Fang, "Asymmetric vortex beam emission from a metasurface-integrated microring with broken conjugate symmetry" Opt. Express 31(25), 42549-42561(2023)

• L. Zhu, Y. Tai, H. Li, H. Hu, X. Li, Y. Cai, Y. Shen*, “Multidimensional optical tweezers synthetized by rigid-body emulated structured light” Photonics Res. 11(9), 1524-1534 (2023)
  ◊ Top Downloads from July-September 2023

• Y. Meng, H. Zhong, Z. Xu, T. He, J. S. Kim, S. Han, S. Kim, S. Park, Y. Shen, M. Gong, Q. Xiao, and S.-H. Bae, "Functionalize nanophotonic structures with 2D van der Waals materials" Nanoscale Horiz. 8, 1345 (2023)

• Y. Shen*, B. Yu, H. Wu, C. Li, Z. Zhu, A. V. Zayats, "Topological Transformation and Free-Space Transport of Photonic Hopfions," Adv. Photonics 5(1), 015001 (2023).

◊ One the cover [link]

◊ SPIE news featured [link]

◊ PHYS.ORG "Photonic hopfions: Light shaped as a smoke ring that behaves like a particle" [link]

◊ AZOoptics "Analyzing Free-Space Transport of Photonic Hopfions" [link]
◊ Advanced Photonics highly cited and star paper [link] (2023)
◊ Advanced Photonics highly cited paper [link] (2024)

• Y. Shen*, Q. Zhan, L. G. Wright, D. N. Christodoulides, F. W. Wise, A. E. Willner, Z. Zhao, K.-H. Zou, M. A. Porras, A. Chong, C. Wan, K. Y. Bliokh, C.-T. Liao, C. Hernández-García, M. Murnane,  M. Yessenov, A. F. Abouraddy, L. J. Wong, M. Go, S. Kumar, C. Guo, S. Fan, N. Papasimakis, N. I. Zheludev, L. Chen, W. Zhu, A. Agrawal, M. Mounaix, N. K. Fontaine, J. Carpenter,  S. W. Jolly, C. Dorrer, B. Alonso, I. Lopez-Quintas, M. López-Ripa, Í. J. Sola, J. Huang, H. Zhang, Z. Ruan, A. H. Dorrah, F. Capasso, A. Forbes, "Roadmap on spatiotemporal light fields" J. Opt. 25, 093001 (2023).
  ◊ Top Downloaded Article 2023 JO IOP (Top 1)

• C. Li, S. Liu, B. Yu, H. Wu, C. Rosales-Guzmán, Y. Shen, P. Chen, Z. Zhu, Y. Lu, "Toward arbitrary spin-orbit flat optics via structured geometric phase gratings," Laser Photonics Rev. 7, 2200800 (2023).
  ◊ On the journal cover [link]

• J. Pan, Z. Wang, Z. Zhan, X. Fu, Y. Shen*, and Q. Liu, "Multiaxial super-geometric mode laser" Opt. Lett. 48(7), 1630-1633 (2023).

• Y. Tai, H. Fan, X. Ma, Y. Shen*, and X. Li, "Multi-dimensionally modulated optical vortex array" J. Opt. 25, 094001 (2023).
  ◊ Journal of Optics Top 10 Editors' Picks

• Z. Wan, H. Wang, Q. Liu, X. Fu, and Y. Shen*, "Ultra-Degree-of-Freedom Structured Light for Ultracapacity Information Carriers," ACS Photonics 10(7) 2149–2164 (2023).
  ◊ Invited Article for special issue "Photonics in China"
  ◊ On the Cover

• C. Wan, Y. Shen, A. Chong, and Q. Zhan, "Scalar optical hopfions," eLight 2, 22 (2022).

◊ One the cover

◊ PHYS.ORG highlight [link]

◊ Nature News & Views highlight Light: Sci. & Appl. 12, 54 (2023)

• J. Pan, H. Wang, Y. Shen*, X. Fu, and Q. Liu, "Airy coherent vortices: 3D multilayer self-accelerating structured light," Appl. Phys. Lett. 121, 141102 (2022).

◊ One the cover [link]

◊ Featured article

• C. He, Y. Shen*, and A. Forbes, "Towards higher-dimensional structured light" Light: Sci. & Appl. 11, 205 (2022).

◊ Invited perspective article

◊ LSA Top Downloaded Paper 2022 2023 2024
◊ ESI Hot paper 2023

• A. Zdagkas, C. McDonnell, J. Deng, Y. Shen, G. Li, T. Ellenbogen, N. Papasimakis, N. I. Zheludev, “Observation of Toroidal Pulses of Light,” Nat. Photonics 16, 523–528 (2022).

◊ On the cover [link]

◊ Nature News & Views highlight "Smoke rings of light"Nat. Photonics 16, 476–477 (2022)

◊ Nature News & Views highlight "Structured matter creates toroidal structured light" Light: Sci. & Appl. 11, 203 (2022)

• Y. Shen*, S. Pidishety, I. Nape, A. Dudley, "Self-healing of structured light: a review" J. Opt. 24, 103001 (2022).

◊ Invited Review for "30 Years of Engineering Light with OAM"

• Z. Wan, Y. Shen, Z. Wang, Z. Shi, Q. Liu, and X. Fu, "Divergence-degenerate spatial multiplexing towards future ultrahigh capacity, low bit-error-rate optical communications," Light: Sci. & Appl. 11,144 (2022).

◊ Nature News & Views "Rising complexity of the OAM beam structure as a way to a higher data capacity" Light: Sci. & Appl. 11, 221 (2022)

◊ 10th Anniversary of LSA: Collection on Fiber Optics and Optical Communications

• Y. Shen* and C. Rosales-Guzmán, "Nonseparable states of light: From quantum to classical," Laser Photonics Rev. 16, 2100533 (2022).

◊ ESI highly cited paper & hot paper.

◊ Optics & Photonics News highlight "Classical vs. Quantum Light Fields" [link].

◊ PHYS.ORG highlight "A review of 'classical entanglement' blurring the quantum-classical divide"

• Z. Wan, Y. Shen*, Q. Liu, and X. Fu, “Multipartite classically entangled scalar beams” Opt. Lett. 47(8), 2052-2055 (2022).

• H. Wang, Z. Zhan, Y. Shen, J. Hu, X. Fu, Q. Liu, "Deep-learning-assisted communication capacity enhancement by non-orthogonal state recognition of structured light," Opt. Express 30(16), 29781-29795 (2022).

• Y. Shen*, E. C. Martínez, and C. Rosales-Guzmán, “Generation of optical skyrmions with tunable topological textures,” ACS Photonics 9(1), 296–303 (2022).

◊ On the journal cover;

◊ EurekAlert! | AAAS highlight [link]

◊ Top-cited publications, ACS Photonics's 2024 Journal Impact Factor

• H. Wu, B. Yu, Z. Zhu, W. Gao, D. Ding, Z. Zhou, X. Hu, C. Rosales-Guzmán, Y. Shen, and B. Shi, "Conformal frequency conversion for arbitrary vectorial structured light," Optica 9(2), 187-196 (2022).

◊ EurekAlert! | AAAS highlight "Skyrmions can remain its topology in nonlinear interaction"

• H. Wang, X. Yang, Z. Liu, J. Pan, Y. Meng, Z. Shi, Z. Wan, H. Zhang, Y. Shen*, X. Fu, Q. Liu, “Deep-learning-based recognition of multi-singularity structured light” Nanophotonics 11(4), 779–786 (2022).

◊ Invited Article

◊ Special Issue of “Photonic Angular Momentum”

• Y. Shen*, "Rays, waves, SU(2) symmetry and geometry: toolkits for structured light," J. Opt. 23, 124004 (2021).

◊ Invited Tutorial; Special Issue for "Tutorials by Emerging Talents"

• C. He, Y. Shen, A. Forbes and M. J. Booth, "Shrinking multiplexed orbital angular momentum to the nanoscale," Light: Sci. & Appl. 10, 220 (2021).

• Y. Shen*, Y. Hou, N. Papasimakis, and N. I. Zheludev, “Supertoroidal light pulses as electromagnetic skyrmions propagating in free space,” Nat. Commun. 12, 5891 (2021).

◊ PHYS.ORG highlight "Skyrmions can fly!" [link]

◊ AZO Optics highlight "Skyrmions can Open Up Infinite Possibilities for Next Generation of Informatics Revolution" [link]

• R. Zeng, Q. Zhao, Y. Shen, Y. Liu, and Y. Yang, "Structural stability of open vortex beams," Appl. Phy. Lett. 119, 171105 (2021).

• H. Wang, J. Pan, Y. Meng, Q. Liu, Y. Shen*, “Advances of Yb:CALGO Laser Crystals,” Crystals 11(9), 1131 (2021).
  ◊ Invited Review
  ◊ Editor's Choice

• Z. Wang, Y. Shen*, Q. Liu and X. Fu, "To unify azimuthally traveling-wave and standing-wave structured light by ray-wave duality" J. Opt. 23, 115604 (2021).

• Y. Shen*, "Topological bimeronic beams" Opt. Lett. 46(15), 3737-3740 (2021).

◊ Editor's Pick [link]

◊ EurekAlert! | AAAS highlight [link]

• Y. Shen*, A. Zdagkas, N. Papasimakis, and N. I. Zheludev, “Measures of space-time nonseparability of electromagnetic pulses,” Phys. Rev. Res. 3, 013236 (2021).

◊ EurekAlert! | AAAS highlight [link]

◊ Nature News & Views highlight Light: Sci. & Appl. 11, 203 (2022)

• Y. Shen*, I. Nape, X. Yang, X. Fu, M. Gong, D. Naidoo, and A. Forbes, “Creation and control of high-dimensional multi-partite classically entangled light,” Light: Sci. & Appl. 10, 50 (2021).

◊ On the journal cover (LSA issue 5, 2021)

◊ Nature News & Views highlight: "Entanglement goes classically high-dimensional" Light: Sci. & Appl. 10, 81 (2021)

◊ EurekAlert! | AAAS highlight [link]

◊ Photonics Media highlight [link]

◊ IEEE Spectrum highlight [link]

◊ 10th Anniversary of LSA: Collection on Special Optics [link]

• Z. Wang, Y. Shen*, D. Naidoo, X. Fu, and A. Forbes, “Astigmatic hybrid SU(2) vector vortex beams: towards versatile structures in longitudinally variant polarized optics,” Opt. Express 29(1), 315-329 (2021).

◊ Featured article in issue ASSL 2020 by Opt. Mater. Express [link]

◊ Featured article in issue ASSL 2020 by Opt. Express [link]

◊ PHYS.ORG highlight [link]

• ​​​Y. Shen*, X. Yang, D. Naidoo, X. Fu, and A. Forbes, “Structured ray-wave vector vortex beam in multiple degrees of freedom from a laser,” Optica 7(7), 820–831 (2020).

◊ Optica journal cover paper [link]

◊ Chinese optics advances Top-10 candidate [link]

◊ Light: Sci. & Appl highlight [link]

◊ Optics & Photonics News highlight "Complex-Light Lasers" [link]

• Y. Shen*, X. Yang, D. Naidoo, X. Fu, and A. Forbes, “Structured ray-wave vector vortex beam in multiple degrees of freedom from a laser: erratum,” Optica 7(12), 1705–1705 (2020).

• Y. Shen*, Z. Wang, X. Fu, D. Naidoo, and A. Forbes, “SU(2) Poincaré Sphere: A generalized representation for multidimensional structured light,” Phys. Rev. A 102, 031501(R) (2020).

◊ Rapid Communication

• J. Pan, Y. Shen*, Z. Wan, X. Fu, H. Zhang, and Q. Liu, “Index-Tunable Structured-Light Beams from a Laser with an Intracavity Astigmatic Mode Converter,” Phys. Rev. Appl. 14, 044048 (2020).

• Z. Wan, Z. Wang, X. Yang, Y. Shen*, and X. Fu, “Digitally tailoring arbitrary structured light of generalized ray-wave duality,” Opt. Express. 28(21), 31043-31056 (2020).

• Q. Liu, J. Pan, Z. Wan, Y. Shen, H. Zhang, X. Fu, and M. Gong, “Generation Methods for Complex Vortex Structured Light Field,” Chin. J. Laser 47(5), 0500006 (2020).

◊ Invited review article.

◊ CLP highlight [link]