R&D Magazine – An international research group led by scientists from the University of Bristol and the Universities of Glasgow (UK) and Sun Yat-sen and Fudan in China, have demonstrated integrated arrays of emitters of so call ‘optical vortex beams’ onto a silicon chip. The work is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Science.
When such light interacts with matter, it asserts a rotational force (a torque) on the matter; therefore it can be used as so called ‘optical spanners’ in addition to ‘optical tweezers’, which can rotate as well as trap microscopic particles or droplets. Different degree of twist can also be used to transmit information—allowing more information to be carried by a single optical signal, and increasing the capacity of optical communications links. more> http://tinyurl.com/9mygcj6
Related articles
- Integrated optical vortices on a chip (w/ Video) (phys.org)
- Optical vortices packaged on a chip (rdmag.com)
- Optical vortices on a chip (oddonion.com)
- Chip puts a twist on light (physicsworld.com)
- Fabbing a chip that could encode data in a twisted vortex of light (arstechnica.com)
