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liquid light switch

16.08.2016

An international team of scientists has created a miniature electro-optical switch that changes the spin or angular momentum of a liquid form of light when subjected to the electric field of a semiconductor device. This is a step towards even greater miniaturization of electronics.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge, led by Professor Jeremy Baumberg of the Nanophotonic Center, along with scientists from Mexico and Greece, have created a switch that uses a new state of matter called a Bose-Einstein polariton condensate. The device mixes electrical and optical signals with minimal energy consumption.

A polariton Bose-Einstein condensate is formed by trapping light between mirrors a few millionths of a meter apart, allowing it to react with thin semiconductor wafers. A half-light-half-matter mixture is created there, called a polariton.

By concentrating many polaritons in one place, you can make them condense in the form of a light-material fluid, rotating either clockwise or counterclockwise. By applying an electric field to this system, the scientists were able to control the spin of the condensate and switch between up and down states. The polariton fluid emits light, with a clockwise or counterclockwise spin, which can be sent through an optical fiber, thus converting electrical signals into optical ones.

In this way, it is possible to transmit a signal at a very high speed with minimal energy consumption and to develop more miniature devices, the authors of the work believe. They have created a prototype that works at cryogenic temperatures and are looking for other materials that can work at room temperature. Then the technology can be commercialized. Another key factor for commercialization is mass production and scalability. To do this, scientists are looking for ways to integrate the prototype with the existing technological base.

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