The thinnest 2D waveguide for chip-level optical circuits to date is available

Scientists from the University of Chicago published a paper in the latest issue of Science magazine, saying that they have developed the thinnest chip-level optical circuit to date - a two-dimensional (2D) waveguide. This glass crystal, which is only a few atoms thick, can capture and carry light with amazing efficiency, and can transmit light up to a distance of up to one centimeter, which is a very long distance in the field of optical-based computing, and is expected to open up the way for new technologies.

Scientists at the University of Chicago have developed a glass crystal just a few atoms thick that can capture and carry light. The researchers are shown holding the material. Image credit: Jean Lachat/Physicists' Organization Network

Directing light from one place to another is the backbone of the modern communications world. Under the sea and between continents, fiber-optic cables transmit light that encodes everything from videos to bank transfers, all within strands as thin as a human hair.

To make these strands even thinner and even 2D, the research team invented a new 2D waveguide. It is a glass crystal made of molybdenum disulfide. This ultra-thin 2D crystal can not only hold energy, but also transmit energy to a distance 1,000 times farther than existing similar systems. The trapped light also behaves as if it is propagating in 2D space.

The research team pointed out that it is crucial that in existing 3D waveguides, photons always propagate in a closed manner within the waveguide, but in the new system, the glass crystal is actually thinner than the photon itself, so part of the photon "overflows" from the crystal as it propagates, making it easier to make complex devices using glass crystals, because light can be easily moved using lenses or prisms. In addition, photons can also "feel" information about the surrounding environment on the way, and scientists can also use these waveguides to make sensors at the microscopic level.

Researchers are very interested in building very thin, two-dimensional photonic circuits that could one day be stacked to fit more tiny devices into the same area of ​​a chip.