To improve photonic and electronic circuitry used in semiconductor chips and fiber optic systems, researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis tinkered with the rules of physics that govern movement of light over time and space. They have introduced a new way to manipulate light transmission, opening possibilities for advanced optical devices.
Their method causes a “mirror-flip of the system,” said Lan Yang, the Edwin H. & Florence G. Skinner Professor of electrical and systems engineering and senior author of the research, now published in Science Advances.
Through this work, they have enabled a way for light to travel through a system in only one direction. This “asymmetric transmission” is one of the key outcomes of this work because it can simplify telecommunication systems.
Read more on the McKelvey Engineering website.
