Photonic Crystals, Whispering-Gallery Modes Pair for Light-Trapping

Researchers from the University of Maryland’s Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) combined the qualities of two methods for light-trapping — whispering-gallery mode (WGM) and photonic crystals — in a hybrid device called the microgear photonic crystal ring. The device holds implications for nonlinear optics, where light interacts with the matter it travels through to produce new colors and directions, and is in the area of cavity quantum electrodynamics.