Accelerating Luminescence in Nanostructures: Exploring the Physical Limits and Impact of Ultrafast Emission in Nanoscale Materials

Ultrafast luminescence represents a frontier in optical materials science, bridging fundamental investigations of light–matter interaction and the development of next‐generation photonic devices. Enhancing the speed of luminescence has long been a central objective, with continued relevance in both fundamental and applied contexts. In advanced photonic systems, rapid light emission enables the realization of extremely bright and temporally precise optical signals. This capability is crucial for quantum information technologies, where single‐photon sources with short radiative lifetimes are essential, as well as for classical high‐speed optical communication and sensing platforms. This review highlights recent progress in accelerating the emission process by leveraging cooperative emission effects, resonator‐enhanced coupling, and nonlocal or multipolar interactions, incorporating the authors’ original contributions and perspectives. These advances have led to the realization of novel coherent and incoherent bright light sources, high‐efficiency single‐photon emitters, radiative processes robust against thermal dephasing, and photon generation from materials typically regarded as nonluminescent due to thermal relaxation or self‐trapping. These mechanisms from both theoretical and experimental perspectives are explored, and insights into their integration for future photonic architectures are offered.