Communications of the ACM
'metasurfaces' to sher in New Optical Technologies
A "hyperbolic metasurface" could make possible future quantum information systems far more powerful than today's computers.
Credit: Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University
Purdue University researchers are developing optical technologies that rely on metasurfaces capable of the ultra-efficient control of light. The metasurfaces could make possible planar photonics devices and optical switches small enough to be integrated into computer chips for information processing and telecommunications, says Purdue professor Alexander Kildishev.
Metasurfaces are extremely thin films of metamaterials, and contain features, patterns, or elements that enable an unprecedented control of light, Kildishev says. "If we use certain types of plasmonic material, they can be integrated into existing semiconductor processes, which makes them practical for commercialization." The metasurfaces also can be combined with sheets of graphene. "If you apply voltage the optical properties of graphene change, and if you couple a graphene layer with a metasurface, these properties then change dramatically," Kildishev says.
However, the development of new technologies involving metamaterials has been held back by the fact that too much light is absorbed by metals such as silver and gold contained in the materials, and they need to be more precisely tuned so they possess the proper index of refraction.
From Purdue University
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