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 waveguide
Corralling Groups of Photons
APS Synopsys July 14, 2020 An international team of researchers (Germany, Spain, Denmark) propose a device to create flocks of photons by sorting a coherent pulse of light into bunches of strongly correlated photons. The device consists of an optical waveguide that is strongly coupled to a row of two-level quantum systems. A laser pulse is shone down the waveguide. Photons within the pulse are strongly connected to each other such that the arrival of one portends the quick arrival of the next. The atoms absorb pulse photons, entering an excited state. If photons connected to the absorbed ones interact […]