Interfacial solar steam generation (ISSG) is a novel and potential solution to global freshwater crisis. Here, based on a facile sol-gel fabrication process, we demonstrate a highly scalable Janus aramid nanofiber aerogel (JANA) as a high-efficiency ISSG device. JANA performs near-perfect broadband optical absorption, rapid photothermal conversion and effective water transportation. Owning to these features, efficient desalination of salty water and purification of municipal sewage are successfully demonstrated using JANA. In addition, benefiting from the mechanical property and chemical stability of constituent aramid nanofibers, JANA not only possesses outstanding flexibility and fire-resistance properties, but its solar steaming efficiency is also free from the influences of elastic deformations and fire treatments. We envision JANA provides a promising platform for mass-production of high-efficiency ISSG devices with supplementary capabilities of convenient transportation and long-term storage, which could further promote the realistic applications of ISSG technology.

Higher-order exceptional points (EPs), which appear as multifold degeneracies in the spectra of non-Hermitian systems, are garnering extensive attention in various multidisciplinary fields. However, constructing higher-order EPs still remains a challenge due to the strict requirement of the system symmetries. Here we demonstrate that higher-order EPs can be judiciously fabricated in parity–time (PT)-symmetric staggered rhombic lattices by introducing not only on-site gain/loss but also non-Hermitian couplings. Zero-energy flatbands persist and symmetry-protected third-order EPs (EP3s) arise in these systems owing to the non-Hermitian chiral/sublattice symmetry, but distinct phase transitions and propagation dynamics occur. Specifically, the EP3 arises at the Brillouin zone (BZ) boundary in the presence of on-site gain/loss. The single-site excitations display an exponential power increase in the PT-broken phase. Meanwhile, a nearly flatband sustains when a small lattice perturbation is applied. For the lattices with non-Hermitian couplings, however, the EP3 appears at the BZ center. Quite remarkably, our analysis unveils a dynamical delocalization-localization transition for the excitation of the dispersive bands and a quartic power increase beyond the EP3. Our scheme provides a new platform toward the investigation of the higher-order EPs and can be further extended to the study of topological phase transitions or nonlinear processes associated with higher-order EPs.

大视场、低成本、高性能天文望远镜是当前研究和开发的热点。基于像差平衡原理，在正入射施密特矫正板基础上推导出斜入射反射式施密特矫正板方程，针对焦距1 700 mm，成像视场角4°，波段为0.4 μm～0.9 μm，F数为4.25的光学系统，求解出施密特矫正板方程，并作为初始结构参数代入Zemax软件进一步优化。设计结果表明，在全视场范围内，该系统在奈奎斯特频率100 lp/mm处的调制传递函数MTF大于0.35，畸变小于2.5%，成像质量达到了衍射极限。优化设计后施密特矫正板与最近球面最大偏差为0.005 mm，采用特制的补偿器结合干涉仪可完成面形高精度检测。该施密特系统的设计为大视场、宽波段天文望远镜的开发提供了参考。