Nanoscale Photon Diode Could Further Next-Gen Computing Technologies

Researchers at Stanford University are designing a way to make a photon diode, a device that allows light to flow in only one direction, small enough for consumer electronics. They have tested their design with computer simulations and calculations and have created the nanostructures necessary for installing the light source they hope will bring their theorized photon diode to life. Traditionally, photon diodes must be relatively large in order to produce the strong rotation of light polarization that is required to control the flow of light. As an alternative, the Stanford team created rotation in crystal using another light beam instead of a magnetic field. In this all-optical, magnet-free scheme, the light beam was polarized so...