Light Focusing Device Could Send More Data

Light Focusing Device Could Send More Data
Dec-23-12
A device able to focus light into a point only a few nanometers across could lead to a new generation of computing and imaging applications.

Today’s technology is relying more and more on optics, which can carry larger amounts of data more efficiently than wires. To keep pace with the increasing needs of sending data, the demand for focusing light into smaller spaces has risen—and Caltech researchers have stepped up the challenge with a new kind of waveguide that allows light to be focused beyond its natural limit.

The device, a rectangular box just under two microns long that tapers to a point at one end, is made of amorphous silicon dioxide and gold. Photons in the light sent through the device interact with the electrons at the interface of the silicon dioxide and gold, which causes the electrons to oscillate. The oscillations propagate along the device as waves, carrying the same information and properties as the light and serving as a proxy for the light. These oscillations, called surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs), are focused as they exit the pointed end of the device.



More Info about this Invention:

[GIZMAG.COM]
[CALTECH]
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