Plasmonics Goes Quantum

A combined plasmonics and metamaterials approach may allow light-matter interaction to be controlled at the single-photon level. Light in a silica fiber and electrons in silicon are the backbones of current communication and computation systems. A seamless interface between the two can guarantee the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2011-10, Vol.334 (6055), p.463-464
Main Authors: Jacob, Zubin, Shalaev, Vladimir M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Electrons
Information processing
Integrated circuits
Lead
Light
Multidisciplinary research
Nanotechnology
Nanowires
Optical fibers
PERSPECTIVES
Photonics
Photons
Physics
Plasmons
Quantum theory
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Summary:A combined plasmonics and metamaterials approach may allow light-matter interaction to be controlled at the single-photon level. Light in a silica fiber and electrons in silicon are the backbones of current communication and computation systems. A seamless interface between the two can guarantee the use of light to overcome issues related to the resistive time delay of electrons within integrated circuits. However, a fundamental incompatibility arises between photonics and nanometer-scale electronics because light breaks free when confined to sizes below its wavelength. Instead, coupling light to the free electrons of metals can lead to a quasiparticle called a plasmon, with nanometer-scale mode volumes. The resulting possibility of efficiently interfacing photonics and nanoelectronics has been the impetus for the field of plasmonics ( 1 ). Recent work has shown that these nanoscale plasmons, which can transmit classical information with unprecedented bandwidth, are also naturally conducive to quantum information processing ( 2 ).
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1211736