If you remember your school time and physics class then you might also remember your teacher telling you to use the speed of light as a constant. Well the world of Science is an interesting and fascinating place.
What was true yesterday can be challenged and made possible today or in the time to come.
A lot of things that appeared in Science fiction movies are seeing the light of the day.
Talking of light there has been new development in how science and engineering sees it today.
Even today the speed of light is considered to be constant in vacuum however we hardly discussed controlling it in other media.
This is ground breaking stuff
Light which was believed to be hard to manipulate in terms of its speed has finally given in to the scientific advancement of mankind.
A group of Chinese researchers have been able to slow down the speed of light. A task which would be considered as an element of science fiction a few years ago.
This can revolutionise the way we look at science and it opens up a new era when it comes to Photonic chips.
This could be used to create chips and devices which are both fore efficient as well as faster in speed of operations.
Normal electronic Chips Vs Photonic Chips
Normal or conventional electronic chips use electrons whereas Photonic chips use photons in their circuits.
In the light of the new development we can expect to see some remarkable developments in Photonic chips where
- Photonic chips consume less power as compared to conventional electronic chips.
- It would be possible to make the accuracy of Photonic chips comparable to electronic chips.
It may be noted that the speed of light remains constant in vacuum, however its speed can be manipulated in other mediums to be able to design more efficient Photonic chips.
The scientists behind the groundbreaking feet
Researchers at the Shenzhen institute led by Dr. Li Guangyuan are responsible for this development.
It may be observed that as light is made to slow down the energy density associated with it increases.
If the device is kept of the same length the light would have to traverse a longer distance. This enhances the overall performance of the Photonic device.
The Innovation that made slowing down possible
The team has designed a Photonic chip that is able to slow down the speed of light by as much as 10,000 times.
It does this with only 20% energy loss.
This is a marked improvement in the more conventional methods of controlling light making use of Meta Surfaces.
Let us understand Metasurfaces
Metasurfaces are 2D structures which are created using submicron size or sub wavelength elements. These are used to manipulate the electronic waves of interest and could be light as well as radio waves.
These surfaces are manufactured using engineering that helps them get specific optical properties.
This enables the scientists to control the light's behaviour precisely.
What materials make this possible?
By using Lossless silicon materials for the infrared spectra along with materials like Silicone nitride or titanium dioxide for the visible light spectrum.
The scientists have enhanced the surface lattice resonance concept by way of utilizing a periodic surface structure that consists of 100 nanometer silicon nano disks.
By doing this they are able to reduce the material absorption loss as well as recapture the scattered photons which extends their lifespan.
The future is bright
With this new tech the photonic devices would not only be cheaper to produce but also bring enhanced performance to the devices in which they are used.
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