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Major step toward optical computing: Non-metallic metamaterial used to 'compress' and contain light

Date:
August 19, 2014
Source:
University of Alberta
Summary:
Engineering researchers are designing nano-optical cables small enough to replace the copper wiring on computer chips. The advance could result in radical increases in computing speeds and reduced energy use by electronic devices.
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FULL STORY

The invention of fibre optics revolutionized the way we share information, allowing us to transmit data at volumes and speeds we'd only previously dreamed of. Now, electrical engineering researchers at the University of Alberta are breaking another barrier, designing nano-optical cables small enough to replace the copper wiring on computer chips.

This could result in radical increases in computing speeds and reduced energy use by electronic devices.

"We're already transmitting data from continent to continent using fibre optics, but the killer application is using this inside chips for interconnects -- that is the Holy Grail," says Zubin Jacob, an electrical engineering professor leading the research. "What we've done is come up with a fundamentally new way of confining light to the nano scale."

At present, the diameter of fibre optic cables is limited to about one thousandth of a millimetre. Cables designed by graduate student Saman Jahani and Jacob are 10 times smaller -- small enough to replace copper wiring still used on computer chips. (To put that into perspective, a dime is about one millimetre thick.)

Capturing all the light, without the heat

Jahani and Jacob have used metamaterials to redefine the textbook phenomenon of total internal reflection, discovered 400 years ago by German scientist Johannes Kepler while working on telescopes.

Researchers around the world have been stymied in their efforts to develop effective fibre optics at smaller sizes. One popular solution has been reflective metallic claddings that keep light waves inside the cables. But the biggest hurdle is increased temperatures: metal causes problems after a certain point.

"If you use metal, a lot of light gets converted to heat. That has been the major stumbling block. Light gets converted to heat and the information literally burns up -- it's lost."

Jacob and Jahani have designed a new, non-metallic metamaterial that enables them to "compress" and contain light waves in the smaller cables without creating heat, slowing the signal or losing data. Their findings will be published Aug. 20 in Optica, The Optical Society's new high-impact photonics journal.

The team's research is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Helmholtz-Alberta Initiative.

Jacob and Jahani are now building the metamaterials on a silicon chip to outperform current light confining strategies used in industry.


Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Alberta. Original written by Richard Cairney. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Saman Jahani, Zubin Jacob. Transparent subdiffraction optics: nanoscale light confinement without metal. Optica, 2014; 1 (2): 96 DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.1.000096

Cite This Page:

University of Alberta. "Major step toward optical computing: Non-metallic metamaterial used to 'compress' and contain light." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 August 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140819125946.htm>.
University of Alberta. (2014, August 19). Major step toward optical computing: Non-metallic metamaterial used to 'compress' and contain light. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140819125946.htm
University of Alberta. "Major step toward optical computing: Non-metallic metamaterial used to 'compress' and contain light." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140819125946.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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