"Bar Code" Device Uses Light Instead Of Wires In Optical Link
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Engineers at Stanford have created a new algorithm that allows them to design and build a prism-like silicon structure that can bend light at right angles in order to transmit data faster and more efficiently via optical rather than electrical signals, according to Stanford Engineering article. The new technology is able to split a beam of light into different colors and bend the light at right angles, creating what they call an “optical link.” They described the process in an article in Scientific Reports.
As the Stanford Engineering article explains, “The optical link is a tiny slice of silicon etched with a pattern that resembles a bar code. When a beam of light is shined at the link, two different wavelengths (colors) of light split off at right angles to the input, forming a T shape.” This technology takes a giant step towards establishing a complete system that can connect computer components using light rather than hardwiring.
“Light can carry more data than a wire, and it takes less energy to transmit photons than electrons,” says Jelena Vuckovic, professor of electrical engineering and lead researcher.
In the experiment, the researchers designed these bar code patterns with the desired function in mind. The allowed the algorithm to design a structure that would route C-band and O-band light in opposite directions.
“We wanted to be able to let the software design the structure of a particular size given only the desired inputs and outputs for the device,” Vuckovic says.
Convex optimization concepts were adapted to help design their device, and with help from Stanford electrical engineering and convex optimization expert Professor Stephen Boyd, they were able to automatically create novel shapes at the nanoscale that would cause light to behave in specific ways.
“For many years, nanophotonics researchers made structures using simple geometries and regular shapes,” Vuckovic says. “The structures you see produced by this algorithm are nothing like what anyone has done before.”
According to Futurity, the algorithm is the key that provides researchers with a tool to create new optical components to perform specific functions.