Today marked a major breakthrough in chip-scale photonics. Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a new kind of chip-scale photonic device that can manipulate light on a chip as easily as electrons. This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize how we use photonics, from communications to healthcare.

The new device is made up of a tiny semiconductor material, just a few hundred nanometers thick, and is able to control light with unprecedented accuracy and speed. The device has already demonstrated the ability to switch and modulate light in an optical fiber with a speed of up to 1.4 terahertz, which is over one thousand times faster than current electronics.

This breakthrough could lead to a new generation of integrated photonic devices that make possible a whole range of applications, from high-speed communications to medical imaging. The chip-scale photonics devices could even be used to create tiny sensors that could be used to monitor health from the inside.

The possibilities for this technology are endless, and we’re excited to see what’s next. The scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have truly made a breakthrough that could revolutionize the photonics industry.

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source: Phys.org