Phys.org  July 18, 2022
Current optical modulators used to manipulate the properties of a beam of light mainly use electrical or acoustic effects. These technologies can control the properties of light at nanosecond speeds. Researchers in Finland have developed an all-optical modulator technique which uses a coherent optical process. It can work at femtosecond speeds. They experimentally validated the concept in monolayer materials (MoS2) with modulation depth approaching ~100%, ultra-fast modulation speed (<~130 fs), and wavelength-independence features. The power and polarization of the incident optical beams can be used to tune the output chirality and modulation performance. According to the researchers the demonstration reached the fundamental limits of optical modulation: near-unity modulation depth, instantaneous speed (ultra-fast coherent interaction), compact footprint (atomic thickness), and unlimited operation bandwidth, which hold an ideal optical modulation solution for emerging and future nonlinear optical applications…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Schematic illustration of coherent modulation of THG with chiral light. Credit: Light: Science & Applications volume 11, Article number: 216 (2022)Â