Photonics

Novel metamaterial-based architectures offer a promising platform for building mass-producible, reprogrammable schemes that perform computing tasks with light.

Really good overview of the components that go into a photonic integrated circuit.

Silicon Photonics. What a cool-sounding word.

If MEMS is the result of applying modern nanoscale CMOS processes to the mechanical world, then doing the same for the optical realm gives us Silicon photonics.

In this video, I want to talk about another magic silicon technology. One that’s starting to make a splash in the contemporary technology world.

Summary:

Dr. Vleggaar produces working logic gates based on the principle of optical interference from photolithographic chips made with chromium etching. He discusses the principles involved, gives excellent sources, discusses how this could theoretically be applied, scaled up, as well as some advantages and disadvantages.

Dr. Rodriguez successfully defends his Ph.D thesis on the title subject. Demonstrates the ability for plasma to be tuned to behave either transparently in low densities, or like an opaque metal in high densities. Describes a theoretically effective, novel, (extremely impractical) approach to "cloaking" using this same technology. Demonstrates proof-of-concept with creation of an AND and an OR gate. Discusses the requirement of "Inverse Computational Design," or computing the design based on the required output function and working backward, because of the impracticality of traditional design methods.