Light Boosted By Sound? Yale University Developed A New Way To Amplify The Power of Light

Scientists and researchers at Yale discovered a way to boost light's intensity using the power of sound through a silicon microchip.

Yale university researchers created a method that increases the power of light significantly using sound as boosters. They based on a newly-developed waveguide to create a device that could have uses in communication technologies which would include data signal processing and fiber-optic communications.

Using a silicon microchip this device follows the effect known as Brillouin amplification. It happens when laser light is 'pumped' into an end of the wave guide. When laser light is pumped opposite the direction of the light signal, sound waves are generated (as acoustic phonons).The generated sound waves scatters the laser light mechanically, allowing the stimulation of emission that creates an avalanche of incoming photons. This continues high-throughput is maintained by sound signals driving the frequency information forward where it is emitted as an amplified light signal, Gizmag reported.

Peter Rakich, the head of the research said that combinig the capabilities is like giving an amphibious vehicle to a UPS driver. It allows more efficient route when it can travel by land or by water.

The real challenge in this research is figuring out how to shape the interaction while maintaining that the amplification is not lost. Precision of the control over the interaction of light and sound will be the key in creating devices with practical uses. One example would be a new type of laser, said Eric Kittlaus, a graduate student in Yale University, Yale News reported.

The five-year research program of the Rakich lab is focused on designing microchips that would be used in light technologies. And this research is only a part of the five-year program. Their aim is to develop a technology that would be suitable for commercial applications.

Also, this research is supported by the United States Department of Defense through the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) under MesoDynamic Architectures program.