Sound waves for next-generation wireless communication and quantum applications
By manipulating the interaction between light and sound, researchers are finding new ways to store and filter information in a compact chip
Researchers at the University of Twente solved a long-standing problem: How to trap optically-generated sound waves in a standard silicon photonic chip.
Light travels extremely fast, while sound waves move much more slowly. By manipulating the interaction between light and sound —a physical phenomenon known as stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) — researchers can find new ways to store and filter information in a compact chip. This is useful in applications such as ultra-fast radio communication and quantum technology. But doing this in silicon photonic chips, one of the most important integrated photonics technologies today, was a major challenge.
Silicon photonics is emerging as an important solution to the bandwidth and energy bottlenecks faced by the ever-increasing datacentres industry. Introducing sound waves into these chips can unlock an even larger performance boost.
However, conventional silicon photonic structures, known as waveguides, struggle to keep sound waves confined. Sound tends to escape into the silicon oxide layer underneath the silicon structures, reducing efficiency. Previous solutions involved suspending the silicon structures but this approach was difficult to manufacture and not mechanically stable.
To overcome this issue, the team led by David Marpaung, took a new approach: increasing the size of the silicon structures. The researchers used waveguides that were 100 times larger than traditional silicon nanowires. They successfully trapped sound waves while maintaining a compact chip design.
This discovery brings new functionality to silicon photonics, which is already widely used in optical computing and communication. The ability to guide sound waves at ultra-high frequencies of nearly 40 GHz makes this technique promising for next-generation wireless communication and quantum applications.
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