Bending Light Around Tight Corners Without Backscattering Losses
November 20, 2018 | Duke UniversityEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
Engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a device that can direct photons of light around sharp corners with virtually no losses due to backscattering, a key property that will be needed if electronics are ever to be replaced by light-based devices.
The result was achieved with photonic crystals built on the concept of topological insulators, which won its discoverers a Nobel Prize in 2016. By carefully controlling the geometry of a crystal lattice, researchers can block light from traveling through its interior while transmitting it perfectly along its surface.
The device accomplishes its near-perfect transmittance around corners despite being much smaller than previous designs.
The Semiconductor Industry Association estimates that the number of electronic devices is increasing so rapidly that by the year 2040, there won’t be enough power in the entire world to run them all. One potential solution is to turn to massless photons to replace the electrons currently used for transmitting data. Besides saving energy, photonic systems also promise to be faster and have higher bandwidth.
Photons are already in use in some applications such as on-chip photonic communication. One drawback of the current technology, however, is that such systems cannot turn or bend light efficiently. But for photons to ever replace electrons in microchips, travelling around corners in microscopic spaces is a key.
A schematic of the new optical waveguide device showing the input and output gratings and silicon waveguide connections.
“The smaller the device the better, but of course we’re trying to minimize losses as well,” said Wiktor Walasik, a postdoctoral associate in electrical and computer engineering at Duke. “There are a lot of people working to make an all-optical computing system possible. We’re not there yet, but I think that’s the direction we’re going.”
Previous demonstrations have also shown small losses while guiding photons around corners, but the new Duke research does it on a rectangular device just 35 micrometers long and 5.5 micrometers wide—100 times smaller than previously demonstrated ring-resonator-based devices.
In the new study, which appeared online on November 12 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers fabricated topological insulators using electron beam lithography and measured the light transmittance through a series of sharp turns. Each turn only resulted in the loss of a few percent.
A closer look at the new optical waveguide device featuring a zoomed-in view of the fabricated photonic crystal topological insulator.
“Guiding light around sharp corners in conventional photonic crystals was possible before but only through a long laborious process tailored to a specific set of parameters,” said Natasha Litchinitser, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. “And if you made even the tiniest mistake in its fabrication, it lost a lot of the properties you were trying to optimize.”
“But our device will work no matter its dimensions or geometry of the photons’ path and photon transport is ‘topologically protected,’” added Mikhail Shalaev, a doctoral student in Litchinitser’s laboratory and first author of the paper. “This means that even if there are minor defects in the photonic crystalline structure, the waveguide still works very well. It is not so sensitive to fabrication errors.”
The researchers point out that their device also has a large operating bandwidth, is compatible with modern semiconductor fabrication technologies, and works at wavelengths currently used in telecommunications.
Now the researchers are trying to make a waveguide that can be turned on or off at will—another important feature for all-optical photon-based technologies to ever become a reality.
This work was supported by the Army Research Office (W911NF-15-1-0152, W911NF-11-1-0297).
CITATION: “Robust Topologically Protected Transport In Photonic Crystals at Telecommunication Wavelengths,” Mikhail I. Shalaev, Wiktor Walasik, Alexander Tsukernik, Yun Xu, Natalia M. Litchinitser. Nature Nanotechnology, 12 November, 2018. DOI: 10.1038/s41565-018-0297-6
Suggested Items
Dave Brooks Celebrates 25 Years at IEC USA
03/26/2024 | IECPlease join IEC (International Electronic Components) in congratulating Dave Brooks on 25 years of service and camaraderie. As one of the original members of the IEC USA team, Dave is a valuable contributor to IEC's continued success.
North American PCB Industry Sales Down 11.6% in February
03/25/2024 | IPCIPC announced today the February 2024 findings from its North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. The book-to-bill ratio stands at 1.07.
Dan Beaulieu: It’s All About the Customer Experience
03/11/2024 | Nolan Johnson, PCB007Dan Beaulieu is an industry expert in sales and marketing who understands the unique dynamics of working in both B2B and B2C efforts. Through his work with companies across the electronics manufacturing industry, Dan advocates for businesses to always deliver a top-notch customer experience. Customer experience may not stop world wars—or might it? Read on to get a perspective that only Dan Beaulieu can deliver.
RTX’s Collins Aerospace Completes Demonstration with Parasanti on Launched Effects Technology
03/11/2024 | RTXRTX announced its Collins Aerospace business completed a successful digital demonstration with Parasanti on Collins’ RapidEdge™ Mission System for Collaborative Uncrewed Launched Effects (LE).
Global Semiconductor Sales Increase 15.2% Year-to-Year in January
03/05/2024 | SIAThe Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced global semiconductor industry sales totaled $47.6 billion during the month of January 2024, an increase of 15.2% compared to the January 2023 total of $41.3 billion but a decrease of 2.1% from the December 2023 total of $48.7 billion.