IT Solutions
Optical transistors hold promise for light-speed LIMS
Nov 12 2010
Scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) claim to have created a transistor which not only produces a light-based output, but is also controlled by the beam from a laser.
The microscopic glass component could have applications in the kinds of data processing used in LIMS, for example by storing information over a short period of time.
Its discovery was overseen by Professor Tobias Kippenberg, a team leader at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and tenure track assistant professor at EPFL.
The tiny component works by vibrating rapidly - around 10,000 times as fast as a wine glass - while the glass structure guides incoming light around a circular path.
When a strong beam enters the interior, the cavity is deformed and the light passing through the microresonator can be released - effectively creating an on-off switch for the signal.
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