Ultrafast optical switching and data encoding on synthesized light fields.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36812316.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adf1015 and PMC identifier 9946343.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Modern electronics are founded on switching the electrical signal by radio frequency electromagnetic fields on the nanosecond time scale, limiting the information processing to the gigahertz speed. Recently, optical switches have been demonstrated using terahertz and ultrafast laser pulses to control the electrical signal and enhance the switching speed to the picosecond and a few hundred femtoseconds time scale. Here, we exploit the reflectivity modulation of the fused silica dielectric system in a strong light field to demonstrate the optical switching (ON/OFF) with attosecond time resolution. Moreover, we present the capability of controlling the optical switching signal with complex synthesized fields of ultrashort laser pulses for data binary encoding. This work paves the way for establishing optical switches and light-based electronics with petahertz speeds, several orders of magnitude faster than the current semiconductor-based electronics, opening a new realm in information technology, optical communications, and photonic processor technologies.