A team researchers have created a metamaterial that can be manipulated to change the color of light. 

Scientists from UMass Lowell, King's College London, Paris Diderot University and the University of Hartford in Connecticut are working together on a new material that can adjust itself to alter the color of light. 

The Future Prospects

According to the research findings published on Nov. 26 in a peer-review journal of The Optic Society, this technology could eventually empower computer processors with on-chip optical communication, leading to the development of faster, smaller, and more efficient computer chips with improved data storage and wider bandwidth. On-chip optical communication can also be used for the creation of robust fiber optic telecommunication networks. 

Prof. Viktor Podolsky of the Department of Physics and Applied Physics and also the principal investigator at UMass Lowell explains that computer chips today use electrons for computing because they are tiny. 

"However, the frequency of electrons is not fast enough. Light is a combination of tiny particles, called photons, which don't have mass. As a result, photons could potentially increase the chip's processing speed," he added. 

Podolskiy explains that copper wires will be replaced by on-chip communication by altering electrical waves into pulses of light. This will enable both chip-to-chip and core-to-core communication on the same chip. As a result, they will be able to make parallel computing much faster and remove the communication blockage. 

Key To Optical Computing Is Photons

"The vast majority of everyday objects, including mirrors, lenses and optical fibers, can steer or absorb these photons, says Podolsky.

However, there are some materials that can combine photons together, resulting in a higher energy photon of a different color, he further explains.  

By enabling the communication between the photons, it is possible to unlock the key to optical computing and information processing. Podolskiy also explains that this process is inefficient and nonlinear, and the materials that promote interaction between photons are extremely uncommon. 

However, the team of researchers has been able to discover the materials with substandard nonlinear properties that can be merged together to result in a new metamaterial that offers desired and advanced nonlinear characteristics. He explains that its improvement is a result of how metamaterials restructures the flow of photons.