Metatronic states (via University of Pennsylvania)
New technology often leads to a shift in the way we all think about design. Engineers know this better than anyone, especially when it comes to circuit design. With that in mind, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have built the first ‘lumped' optical circuit powered by light. Designed by Professor Nader Engheta at the University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science along with some of his students, the new ‘lumped’ optical circuit (a combination of different circuit elements i.e.: resistors, inductors and capacitors) uses nano-rods that replicate the function of these lumped elements. This in-turn makes the circuit open and close while only using optical (or light) wavelengths. Engheta and his team tested the new circuit technology (called metatronics) by lighting up the nano-rods with light waves situated in the mid-infrared range. According to Professor Engheta, The team found (after nine different combinations of lumped circuit elements) ‘that the optical voltage and current were altered by the optical resistor’. This means that the circuit can be changed depending on the light wavelength being used almost instantaneously! Metatronics can do this because it is the elements that make up the circuit that are being manipulated, rather than the electric field
Professor Engheta spoke of the initial mindset that may open the door to innovation, "Looking at the success of electronics over the last century, I have always wondered why we should be limited to electric current in making circuits... If we moved to shorter wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum — like light — we could make things smaller, faster and more efficient.”
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