Stanford engineers say their new prism could mean computers that use optics, rather than electricity, to carry data.
The prism-like 'optical link' device can split a beam of light into different colours and bend the light at right angles.
'Light can carry more data than a wire, and it takes less energy to transmit photons than electrons,' said electrical engineering Professor Jelena Vuckovic, who led the research, published today in Scientific Reports.
In previous work her team developed an algorithm that did two things: It automated the process of designing optical structures and it enabled them to create previously unimaginable, nanoscale structures to control light.
Now, she and lead author Alexander Piggott, a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering, have employed that algorithm to design, build and test a link compatible with current fiber optic networks.
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.
Stanford algorithm designed a structure that alternated strips of silicon and gaps of air in a specific way.
The device takes advantage of the fact that as light passes from one medium to the next, some light is reflected and some is transmitted.
When light traveled through the silicon bar code, the reflected light interfered with the transmitted light in complicated ways.
The algorithm began its work with a simple design of just silicon.
Then, through hundreds of tiny adjustments, it found better and better bar code structures for producing the desired output light.
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