Scientists unlock new dimensions of photomanipulation and enter a new era of photonic technology

Researchers at Heriot Watt University have made discoveries that can pave the way for a transformative era of photonic technology. For decades, scientists have theorized the possibility of manipulating the optical properties of light by adding new dimensions: time. This once-like concept is now a reality thanks to nanophotonics experts in the Faculty of Engineering and Physics in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The team’s breakthrough, published in Nature Photonics, emerged from experiments with nanomaterials known as transparent conductive oxides (TCO). These compounds are widely found in solar panels and touch screens and can be formed as ultra-thin films of 250 nanometers (0.00025 mm) that are smaller than the visible wavelength of light.

Leading by Dr. Marcello Ferrera, an associate professor of nanophotonics at Nanophotonics, supported by a colleague at Purdue University in the US, he was able to “sculpt” the way TCOS reacts by emitting material with ultra-fast pulses of light. Surprisingly, the resulting temporary design layer was able to simultaneously control the direction and energy of individual light particles of light.

This finding directly links to the possibility of processing data at much greater speeds and volumes than is currently available. It is expected to have transformative impacts in several key areas, including optical computing, AI, integrated quantum technology, and ultra-fast physics.

“As a result of this breakthrough, it’s difficult to grasp the progress we experience in our daily lives,” explains Dr. Ferrera.

“By fully utilizing optical bandwidth using nonlinear materials, businesses and key organizations can process so much information. This brings great benefits to data centers and advances in AI technology, and supports exciting new technologies that are not fully understood at this point.”

Commenting further on the potential future use arising from this study, Dr. Ferrera said, “Society is thirsty for bandwidth. If we aim to provide a fully immersive 3D experience for virtual meetings, this requires enormous calculation and processing speeds. Information on just a small portion of current energy consumption.

“What science and technology are trying to do is emulate the human brain, but using electronic hardware. The materials we are working on are ingredients that are aimed at this goal that can reduce energy consumption, reduce costs, and increase processing power in these calculation units.”

Postdoctoral researcher Dr. Wallace Jafrey and doctoral researcher Dr. Sven Stengel work with Dr. Ferrera in cutting-edge research at Heriot Watt University.

The core of those breakthroughs lies in their ability to manipulate TCOs to control the speed at which photons move. This new capacity effectively adds a “fourth dimension” and allows for extraordinary light conversions, including amplification, creating quantum states, and controlling new forms of light.

“Searching for materials that can change dramatically in a very fast manner under low-energy lighting has been a quest for all the holy grail of optical technology since the invention of lasers,” Dr. Ferrera said.

“This new class of time-varying media is the biggest leap towards a fully optically controlled material in decades that allow for the vast variety of novel and exciting effects that scientists around the world are trying to try.

Vladimir M. Shalaev, a well-known professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, said, “These low-index transparent conductors will revolutionize the field of integrated nonlinear optics, allowing for effective and energy-efficient manipulation of optical signals with short, unpredictable scales.”

“Our general research efforts show that using these materials allows us to use time variables to ultimately design the optical properties of compounds beyond what is currently possible using standard manufacturing processes,” says Alexandra Boltasseva, a well-known professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University.