An illustration of the small ANU slides. Credit: Ella Maru Studio
Physicists at the National University of Australia (ANU) have developed small translucent slides capable of producing two very different images by manipulating the direction light travels through them.
As the light passes through the slide, you can see an image of Australia, but when you turn the slide and look again, you see an image of the Sydney Opera House. The pair of images created is just one example of a number of untapped possibilities.
The ability to produce two clearly different images is possible thanks to the ability of ANU scientists to control the direction in which light can and cannot travel at the nanoscale. Development could pave the way for new light-based devices that could lead to faster, cheaper, and more reliable Internet. It could also serve as a basis for many of tomorrow’s technologies.
Developed in collaboration with colleagues in China, Germany and Singapore, the new technology uses nanoparticles, so small that about 12,000 of them can fit inside a cross section of human hair. These tiny particles are arranged in unique patterns on the slides.
“Particles control the flow of light just as traffic signals control traffic on a busy road by manipulating the direction in which light may or may not travel,” said project leader Dr. Sergey Kruk.
“Some particles only allow light to flow from left to right, others from right to left, or the path can be blocked in any direction.”
Dr. Lei Wang of the University of Southeast China says that “while the purpose of these images is primarily artistic, they demonstrate the potential of this new technology.”
“In real-world applications, these nanoparticles can be assembled into complex systems that would usefully control the flow of light, such as next-generation communications infrastructure.”
According to Dr. Kruk, the ability to control the flow of light at the nanometer scale ensures that light “goes where it is supposed to go and does not go where it is not supposed to.”
“We exchange huge amounts of information with the help of light. When you make a video call, for example, from Australia to Europe, your voice and image become short pulses of light that travel thousands of miles through a fiber optic for the continents. and the oceans, “said Dr. Kruk, ANU Center for Nonlinear Physics.
“Unfortunately, when we use current light-based technologies to exchange information, many parasitic effects can occur. Light can be scattered or reflected, which compromises your communication.”
“By ensuring that light flows exactly where it needs to flow, we will solve many problems with current technologies.”
According to Dr. Kruk, the development of many of tomorrow’s technologies will largely depend on our ability to control light on a small scale.
“A large deployment of tiny components that can control the flow of light could lead to technological and social changes similar to the transformations produced in the past by the development of tiny components that control the flow of electricity, known as diodes and transistors. “He said.
“Controlling the flow of electricity at the nanoscale is what finally brought us modern computers and smartphones. So it’s exciting to imagine the potential of our emerging technology to control the flow of light.”
The research is published in Photonics of nature.
Ultra-compact integrated photonic device could lead to new optical technologies More information: Sergey Kruk, Asymmetric parametric generation of images with nonlinear dielectric metasurfaces, Photonics of nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038 / s41566-022-01018-7. www.nature.com/articles/s41566-022-01018-7 Provided by the Australian National University
Citation: Nanoparticles that control the flow of light such as traffic signals direct traffic (2022, June 20) recovered on June 20, 2022
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