Asian Scientist (Sep. 12, 2013) – By mimicking microscopic structures in the wings of a butterfly, an international research team has developed a device smaller than the width of a human hair that could make optical communication faster and more secure.
The researchers from Australia and Germany described a photonic crystal that can split both left and right circularly polarized light in a paper published in Nature Photonics.
The design for this crystal was inspired by the Callophrys Rubi butterfly, also known as the Green Hairstreak. This butterfly has 3D nano-structures within its wings which give them their vibrant green color. Other insects also have nano-structures that provide color, but the Callophrys Rubi has one important difference.
“This butterfly’s wing contains an immense array of interconnected nano-scale coiled springs that form a unique optical material. We used this concept to develop our photonic crystal device,” said Dr Mark Turner, lead author of the paper.
Using 3D laser nano-technology, the researchers built a photonic crystal with properties that do not exist in naturally occurring crystals, specifically one that works with circular polarization. This miniature device contains over 750,000 tiny polymer nano-rods.
The photonic crystal acts as a miniature polarizing beamsplitter, similar to a device invented by Scottish scientist William Nicol in 1828.
Polarizing beamsplitters used in modern technology – such as telecommunications, microscopy and multimedia – are built from naturally occurring crystals, which work for linearly polarized light but not circularly polarized light.
“We believe we have created the first nano-scale photonic crystal chiral beamsplitter,” said Professor Min Gu, senior author of the study.
“It has the potential to become a useful component for developing integrated photonic circuits that play an important role in optical communications, imaging, computing and sensing.
“The technology offers new possibilities for steering light in nano-photonic devices and takes us a step closer towards developing optical chips that could overcome the bandwidth bottleneck for ultra-high speed optical networks.”
The article can be found at: Turner et al. (2013) Miniature Chiral Beamsplitter Based On Gyroid Photonic Crystals.
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Source: Swinburne University of Technology; Photo: Laurent Jégou/Flickr/CC.
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