To infinity and beyond: Light goes infinitely fast with new on-chip material

Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

When light passes through water, for example, its phase velocity is reduced as its wavelengths get squished together. In a zero-index material, there is no phase advance, meaning light no longer behaves as a moving wave, traveling through space in a series of crests and troughs. Instead, the zero-index material creates a constant phase – all crests or all troughs – stretching out in infinitely long wavelengths. Integrated photonic circuits are hampered by weak and inefficient optical energy confinement in standard silicon waveguides, said Yang Li, a postdoctoral fellow in the Mazur Group and first author on the paper. This on-chip metamaterial opens the door to exploring the physics of zero index and its applications in integrated optics, said Mazur.

Visit Link