New research suggests that it is
possible to create a new form of light by binding light to a single electron,
combining the properties of both.
According to the scientists behind the
study, from Imperial College London, the coupled light
and electron would have properties that could lead to circuits that work with
packages of light - photons - instead of electrons.
It would also allow researchers to
study quantum physical phenomena, which govern particles smaller than
atoms, on a visible scale.
In normal materials, light interacts
with a whole host of electrons present on the surface and within the material.
But by using theoretical physics to model the behaviour of light and a
recently-discovered class of materials known as topological insulators,
Imperial researchers have found that it could interact with just one electron
on the surface.
This would create a coupling that
merges some of the properties of the light and the electron.
Normally, light
travels in a straight line, but when bound to the electron it would instead
follow its path, tracing the surface of the material.
In the study, published today in Nature
Communications, Dr Vincenzo Giannini and colleagues modelled this
interaction around a nanoparticle - a small sphere below 0.00000001 metres in
diameter - made of a topological insulator.
Their models showed that as well as the
light taking the property of the electron and circulating the particle, the
electron would also take on some of the properties of the light.
Normally, as electrons are travelling
along materials, such as electrical circuits, they will stop when faced with a
defect. However, Dr Giannini's team discovered that even if there were
imperfections in the surface of the nanoparticle, the electron would still be
able to travel onwards with the aid of the light.
If this could be adapted into photonic
circuits, they would be more robust and less vulnerable to disruption and
physical imperfections.
Dr Giannini said: "The results of
this research will have a huge impact on the way we conceive light. Topological
insulators were only discovered in the last decade, but are already providing
us with new phenomena to study and new ways to explore important concepts in
physics."
Dr Giannini added that it should be
possible to observe the phenomena he has modelled in experiments using current
technology, and the team is working with experimental physicists to make this a
reality.
He believes that the process that leads
to the creation of this new form of light could be scaled up so that the
phenomena could observed much more easily. Currently, quantum
phenomena can only be seen when looking at very small objects or
objects that have been super-cooled, but this could allow scientists to study
these kinds of behaviour at room temperature.
EmoticonEmoticon