In recent decades, chips and electronic devices have become exponentially smaller and faster. Engineers have nearly reached the limits of traditional electronics and are now in the process of transitioning from electronics to photonics, using light instead of electrons. At this scale, all kinds of new challenges arise. For example, the smallest interferences or quantum effects can distort signals and render them unusable. Now, a research team from the University of Twente have added a new solution to the photonic toolbox.
October 10, 2022
In recent decades, chips and electronic devices have become exponentially smaller and faster. Engineers have nearly reached the limits of traditional electronics and are now in the process of transitioning from electronics to photonics, using light instead of electrons. At this scale, all kinds of new challenges arise. For example, the smallest interferences or quantum effects can distort signals and render them unusable. Now, a research team from the University of Twente have added a new solution to the photonic toolbox.
The filtering, amplifying and processing of optical signals is essential in the development of new telecommunication techniques, quantum optics and sensors. One pathway to do this effectively is by using a coherent optomechanical interaction technique called stimulated Brillouin scattering. In this technique, two finely tuned lasers generate a soundwave with frequencies 1 million times higher than the human hearing threshold and trap it in a waveguide.
