Recently, researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) designed and manufactured the world's smallest electro-optic modulator. The invention means that the power of data centers and supercomputers will be greatly reduced. Research papers were published in the journal Nano Letters.
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(Source: OSU)




This study is part of the U.S. Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Awards. Wang is one of the six researchers who obtained a five-year grant from the Air Force Scientific Research Office to develop technologies to reduce the power consumption of optoelectronic devices.




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Electro-optic modulators play a key role in fiber optic networks. Just as a transistor acts as an electrical signal switch, the electro-optic modulator is an optical signal switch. The signal carrier of optical communication is light, which emits a series of binary signals through the optical fiber, and the modulator can be used to turn on or off the light.




Compared to previous best devices, this new modulator is 10 times smaller in size than bacteria (measured at 0.6 microns by 0.8 microns) and 100 times more energy efficient.




Materials play a key role in this invention. For this invention, Wang and his doctoral student Erwen Li took advantage of a technique developed by Oregon State University: a transparent conductive oxide material. The structure they invented uses a transparent conductive oxide gate instead of a typical metal gate, combining a metal oxide semiconductor capacitor with an ultra-compact photonic crystal microcavity.




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OSU School of Electrical Engineering Professor Alan Wang said: "This is the most exciting research I have accomplished so far, not only because of the impact of the device, but also because of the design and manufacturing challenges."




This design combines innovations in materials and devices to improve the interaction between electrons and photons, allowing researchers to create smaller electro-optic modulators.