Modern life relies heavily on encoding information into delivery vehicles. One common method is to use lasers to encode the data and then send it over fiber optic cables. We need to continually look for better ways to encode the ever-increasing demand for information capacity.
A research team from the Department of Applied Physics at Aalto University in Finland has discovered a new way to create tiny hurricanes of light - scientists call them vortices - that can be used to carry information. The method is based on manipulating metal nanoparticles that interact with an electric field. This design approach exploits the geometry of quasicrystals. The discovery marks a major advance in physics and could lead to entirely new ways of transmitting information.
Previous physics research has linked the symmetry of vortex structures to vortex types. For example, if nanoscale particles are arranged in a square, the resulting light will have a single vortex; a hexagon will create double vortices, and so on. More complex swirls require at least an octagon.
Now, a research team has discovered a way to create geometries that theoretically support any type of vortex.
In their study, the team manipulated 100,000 metal nanoparticles, each about one-hundredth the size of a human hair, to create their unique design. The key to this approach is to find the location where the particle's interaction with the desired electric field is minimal, not where it is maximal.
This discovery opens up a wealth of future research in the very active field of optical topology research. It also represents the early stages of a powerful transmission method in areas where light is required to transmit encoded information, such as telecommunications.
The researchers explain that we can transmit these vortices via fiber optic cables and open them at their destination. This will allow us to store information in a smaller space and transmit more information at once. Optimistic estimates are that this method can achieve 8 to 16 times the amount of information transmitted by current optical fiber.