The future of faster, more efficient information processing may come down to light rather than electricity. Mark Lawrence, a postdoctoral scholar in materials science and engineering at Stanford, has moved a step closer to this future with a scheme to make a photon diode – a device that allows light to only flow in one direction – which, unlike other light-based diodes, is small enough for consumer electronics.
All he had to do was design smaller-than-microscopic structures and break a fundamental symmetry of physics.
“Diodes are ubiquitous in modern electronics, from LEDs (light emitting diodes) to solar cells (essentially LEDs run in reverse) to integrated circuits for computing and communications,” said Jennifer Dionne, associate professor of materials science and engineering and senior author on the paper describing this work, published July 24 in Nature Communications. “Achieving compact, efficient photonic diodes is paramount to enabling next-generation computing, communication and even energy conversion technologies.”
At this point, Dionne and Lawrence have designed the new photon diode and checked their design with computer simulations and calculations. They’ve also created the necessary nanostructures – the custom smaller-than-microscopic components – and are installing the light source that they hope will bring their theorized system to life.
Read more at Stanford University
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