Running electronics using light
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(PhysOrg.com) -- "If you open up almost any electronic gadget, you will see various elements that operating using electric circuitries," Nader Engheta tells PhysOrg.com. "Many of them have different functionalities, such as inductors, capacitors, resistors, transistors, and so forth. These well-known elements have been around for decades. But what if you could bring these concepts to the nanoscale, and what if they could operate with light instead of electricity?"
Engheta, a scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, along with Andrea Alů, believe that it is possible to create a nanoscale circuit board that has the potential to be useful in communications. Engheta and Alů describe their concept of an optical nanoscale circuit in Physical Review Letters: "All-Optical Metamaterial Circuit Board at the Nanoscale."
"If you go to the nanoscale," Engheta explains, "you would have to conceive of nanoparticles that effectively act like the elements seen in current devices. It would be necessary to create nanoparticles of a specific shape, and made from specific materials, that would allow them to act as capacitors, resistors, and other well-known elements."
There are three main advantages of using optical nanoparticle circuit boards, Engheta says. First of all, being able to further miniaturize various communications devices would ensure that technology continues to evolve. “We are moving toward having more and more information compacted into a smaller volume.” The second advantage is that using optical frequencies would provide more bandwidth. Finally, there is a very real possibility that nanoscale circuit boards, properly constructed, would use less energy. “We have to look more into this possibility, but it is quite likely that optical nanoparticle circuit boards would be low energy in nature,” Engheta insists.
Engheta, a scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, along with Andrea Alů, believe that it is possible to create a nanoscale circuit board that has the potential to be useful in communications. Engheta and Alů describe their concept of an optical nanoscale circuit in Physical Review Letters: "All-Optical Metamaterial Circuit Board at the Nanoscale."
"If you go to the nanoscale," Engheta explains, "you would have to conceive of nanoparticles that effectively act like the elements seen in current devices. It would be necessary to create nanoparticles of a specific shape, and made from specific materials, that would allow them to act as capacitors, resistors, and other well-known elements."
There are three main advantages of using optical nanoparticle circuit boards, Engheta says. First of all, being able to further miniaturize various communications devices would ensure that technology continues to evolve. “We are moving toward having more and more information compacted into a smaller volume.” The second advantage is that using optical frequencies would provide more bandwidth. Finally, there is a very real possibility that nanoscale circuit boards, properly constructed, would use less energy. “We have to look more into this possibility, but it is quite likely that optical nanoparticle circuit boards would be low energy in nature,” Engheta insists.
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