Science Daily August 11, 2023 Addressing the optical mismatch between components typically results in compromises in size and performance of chip-scale optical circuits for practical devices. Researchers at the University of Chicago showed that they could confine and guide light in an ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) material (<1 nanometer thick). They made three-atom-thick waveguides—δ waveguides—based on wafer-scale molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) monolayers that could guide visible and near-infrared light over millimeter-scale distances with low loss and an efficient in-coupling. The extreme thinness provided a light-trapping mechanism analogous to a δ-potential well in quantum mechanics and enabled the guided waves that were essentially […]
Tag Archives: Optical circuits
Ultrafast optical switching can save overwhelmed datacenters
Phys.org October 15, 2021 Optical circuit switches can offer high bandwidth, low network latency and an energy-efficient and scalable data center network. However, it is critical to switch between wavelengths at nanosecond (ns) timescales. An international team of researchers (Switzerland, UK) has demonstrated ultrafast optical circuit switches based on a microcomb and semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs). They used a photonic integrated Si3N4 microcomb to achieve sub-ns switching along with the 25-Gbps non-return-to-zero and 50-Gbps four-level pulse amplitude modulation burst mode data transmission. And they used a photonic integrated circuit comprising an Indium phosphide-based SOA array and an arrayed waveguide grating […]
Engineers improve signal processing for small fiber optic cables
Science Daily September 16, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (Michigan Technological University, Argonne National Laboratory) explain the quantum and crystallographic origins of a novel surface effect in nonreciprocal optics that improves the processing of optical signals. They found significant differences in the ionic structure between surface and bulk in bismuth-substituted iron garnet materials. They found that the unit cell is elongated normal to the surface, thus enlarging the separation between Fe3+ ions. These ions play a central role in the magneto-optic response of this material. A marked displacement of Fe ions creates gaps at the surface that […]