New Means to Creating Optical Computers Without Plasmons

[Guest_Jim_*]

We are quickly approaching the fundamental limits of silicon-based electronic computers, which is why many teams around the world are working on replacements. Among these potential replacements are optical computers that would use photons instead of electrons to transmit and process information. Photons can only fit into spaces so small though, due to their wavelength, which is why special means of working with them are required, like those developed by researchers at Lomonosov Moscow State University along with French and Spanish researchers.

Typically people are turning to plasmonics as a means to condense optical signals into smaller spaces, but there is a significant issue with this approach. The best materials for use in plasmonics, like the conductors copper and platinum, exhibit high electrical resistance when at frequencies near those of visible light, which are the frequencies plasmons made from visible light would have. The researchers however turned to electrical insulators that have high refractive indices. Back in the 1980s it was predicted that these materials could exhibit a new kind of light scattering, and this is what the researchers are finally demonstrating.

The researchers created small ceramic spheres that will interact with light to get their electrons vibrating at optical frequencies. By tuning the light correctly, the waves can have their harmonics precisely controlled, allowing the incident radiation to be redirected. This is exactly what is wanted for potential use in optical computers, and to make things better the spheres can be made easily and cheaply.

Source: Lomonosov Moscow State University

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