Invention Heralds Advances In Solar Technology Optical Computing

Physicists at Boston College have beamed visible light through a cable hundreds of times smaller than a human hair, an achievement they anticipate will lead to advances in solar power and optical computing. The discovery, details of which appear in the Jan. 8 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters, defies a key principle that holds that light cannot pass through a hole much smaller than its wavelength. In fact, the BC team forced visible light, which has a wavelength of between 380-750 nanometers, to travel down a cable whose diameter is smaller than even the low end of that range.

The researchers say their achievement opens the door to a wide array of new technologies, from high-efficiency, inexpensive solar cells to microscopic light-based switching devices for use in optical computing. The technology could even be used to help some blind people see, the physicists say.

The advance builds upon the researchers' earlier invention of a microscopic antenna that captures visible light in much the same way radio antennae capture radio waves – a discovery they announced in 2004. This time, the BC physicists designed and fabricated a tiny version of the coaxial cable – the Information Age workhorse that carries telephone and Internet service along with hundreds of television and radio channels into millions of homes and businesses around the world.