According to the Daily Science Network report on September 10, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania created the first all-optical photonic switch using cadmium sulfide nanowires and combined it with logic gates, which are the basic components of computer chip processing information. section. The researchers pointed out that this is an important advancement in the field of photonics, which is expected to bring about the use of photonic computers in the future. Related papers were published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
The research was jointly directed by Liters Agarwal, an associate professor of materials science at the school's School of Engineering and Applied Science, and graduate student Brian Pitchoni. This innovative switch is based on their early research. Their early studies showed that cadmium sulfide nanowires have extremely strong photo-physical coupling properties, and their manipulation of light is very effective, and this characteristic is of crucial importance for the development of nanophotonic circuits. Existing light control devices are very bulky and require more energy than electronic devices.
"The biggest challenge for nanophotonic structures is getting light in, processing them, and then letting them go out," Agarwal said. "Our main innovation is to solve the first problem and make the nanowire itself a Light sources on the chip."
They first make precise gaps on the nanowires and then input sufficient energy in the first nanowire so that the bottom and the gap will emit laser light. Since they initially used only one nanowire, the ports of the two segments were perfectly matched and the second segment effectively absorbed and transmitted the light from the first segment. Agarwal said: "When the second segment receives the laser, we send out another light and turn off the light from the nanowire. It becomes a switch."
The researchers were able to detect the intensity of light emitted from the second segment of the nanowire port to ensure that the switch effectively represented the binary state used in the logic device. They combined the two nanowires to form a "Y" type and successfully built a NAND gate (representing a return "0" when all inputs were "1"). This NAND gate is "functionally complete." If they are entered in the correct order, they can do any kind of logical operation, thus constituting the basis of a general-purpose computer processor.
"In the future, we may see 'consumer electronics' becoming 'consumer photonic products'." Agarwal said, "This research shows that this is possible." (Chang Lijun)
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