Theoretical and Applied Physics

Nanophotonics and Nano Devices

Normal optical components, like lenses and microscopes, generally cannot normally focus light to nanometer (deep subwavelength) scales, because of the diffraction limit (Rayleigh criterion). Nevertheless, it is possible to squeeze light into a nanometer scale using other techniques like, for example, surface plasmons, localized surface plasmons around nanoscale metal objects, and the nanoscale orifices and nanoscale sharp tips used in near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) and photoassisted scanning tunnelling microscopy. The marriage of nanomechanics and nanophotonics would bring us a giant step closer to optical chips. That’s important, because light has a vastly wider bandwidth than electricity, which would enable it to get around the critical bottleneck in computing: the connections between processors.