(June 5, 2015) Researchers
from Lehigh University, Japan and Canada have advanced a step closer to the
dream of all-optical data transmission by building and demonstrating what they
call the “world’s first fully functioning single crystal waveguide in glass.”
In an article published in Scientific Reports, a Nature
publication, the group said it had employed ultrafast femtosecond lasers to
produce a three-dimensional single crystal capable of guiding light waves
through glass with little loss of light.
The article, published May 19, is titled “Direct
laser-writing of ferroelectric single-crystal waveguide architectures in glass
for 3D integrated optics.”
The article’s lead author, Adam Stone, received his Ph.D. in
materials science and engineering from Lehigh in 2014. The coauthors are
Himanshu Jain, professor of materials science and engineering, and Volkmar
Dierolf, professor of physics, both at Lehigh, and researchers from Kyoto
University in Japan and Polytechnique Montreal in Canada.