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posted by janrinok on Sunday August 07 2016, @05:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the bright-idea dept.

Researchers suggest that a new form of light could be used in photonic circuits:

New research suggests that it is possible to create a new form of light by binding light to a single electron, combining the properties of both. [...] In normal materials, light interacts with a whole host of electrons present on the surface and within the material. But by using theoretical physics to model the behaviour of light and a recently-discovered class of materials known as topological insulators, Imperial researchers have found that it could interact with just one electron on the surface. This would create a coupling that merges some of the properties of the light and the electron. Normally, light travels in a straight line, but when bound to the electron it would instead follow its path, tracing the surface of the material.

In the study, published today in Nature Communications, Dr Vincenzo Giannini and colleagues modelled this interaction around a nanoparticle – a small sphere below 0.00000001 metres [10 nm] in diameter – made of a topological insulator. Their models showed that as well as the light taking the property of the electron and circulating the particle, the electron would also take on some of the properties of the light.

Normally, as electrons are travelling along materials, such as electrical circuits, they will stop when faced with a defect. However, Dr Giannini's team discovered that even if there were imperfections in the surface of the nanoparticle, the electron would still be able to travel onwards with the aid of the light. If this could be adapted into photonic circuits, they would be more robust and less vulnerable to disruption and physical imperfections.

Single-electron induced surface plasmons on a topological nanoparticle (open, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12375)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 08 2016, @04:24AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 08 2016, @04:24AM (#385163)

    A normal flashlight will work. That's the principle behind solar sails. Light has momentum, even if not mass.

  • (Score: 1) by anubi on Monday August 08 2016, @12:44PM

    by anubi (2828) on Monday August 08 2016, @12:44PM (#385268) Journal

    I thought solar sails were more for intercepting the stream of ionic wind / charged particles ( which have mass ) streaming from the sun.

    However, most of my knowledge of solar wind comes from Jack Vance's short story "Sail 25", read when I was a kid but still remembered.

    Noted though the old radiometer - the light bulb with the light powered rotating vanes inside... that thing really fascinated me as a kid.

    But they seemed to need *some* air in it to make it work... if it was a hard vacuum, it didn't work. So it did not seem to be the photon impacts forcing the rotation, but the thermal energy coupling to the thin gases in the envelope that caused it to spin.

    Little toys like that sure had a big impact on me as a kid. Give 'em one and ask them to explain how it works. If you get a kid with the right mindset, you will send him on endless quests of curiosity over the thing.

    ( I had a really cool teacher in High school that demonstrated one in a bell jar.... showing us it worked if the bell jar was not completely evacuated. Also showed us how electricity freely left wires, as air was acting like a plastic insulator. Electricity jumped out of the wire at surprisingly low voltages. It was a lesson well shown, as I already knew what I was up against in designing high altitude electronic systems when working in the Aerospace sector - and why neon signs work. I don't think they allow physics to be taught like that anymore. )

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]