Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised a photonic circuit on a chip that transforms a single incoming beam of laser light into a panoply of new beams, each with a host of different optical properties.
The newly generated beams — which retain the frequency of the original beam — simultaneously exit the circuit at different locations along the chip. That allows scientists and engineers to select the specific characteristics of one or more beams needed for a particular application.
Precision shaping and controlling beams of visible light are critical for diagnosing and studying human diseases, trapping atoms that form the basis of the world’s most accurate clocks, quantum computing, and many other quantum-based technologies.
When a light beam enters the photonic chip, it’s guided to regions where a beam splitter divides the light wave into two parts. At each location, the Swiss-cheese-like structure of a thin layer of tantalum pentoxide alters numerous properties to the light wave, including its phase and polarization.
Credit: S. Kelley/NIST
Three examples of how a new photonic chip built at NIST shapes an incoming light beam. A thin layer within the chip, made of tantalum pentoxide, forms a structure that can alter the polarization of an outgoing light beam (plane in which the beam vibrates) depending on its horizontal direction (θ) and elevation above the layer (ϕ). The chip can reshape the beam to vibrate in a circular pattern or a radial pattern. In addition, the structure of the material can reshape the beam into a vortex, which alters its phase (the position of a light wave within its cyc ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
