Using
'miracle material' graphene in telecommunications could dramatically
make the internet a hundred times faster, a new study has found.
Researchersthe
Universities of Bath and Exeter have demonstrated for the first time
incredibly short optical response rates using graphene, which could pave
the way for a revolution in telecommunications.
Every
day large amounts of information is transmitted and processed through
optoelectronic devices such as optical fibres, photodetectors and
lasers. Signals are sent by photons at infrared wavelengths and
processed using optical switches, which convert signals into a series of
light pulses.
Ordinarily optical switches
respond at rate of a few picoseconds - around a trillionth of a second.
Through this study physicists have observed the response rate of an
optical switch using 'few layer graphene' to be around one hundred
femtoseconds - nearly a hundred times quicker than current materials.
Graphene
is just one atom thick, but remarkably strong. Scientists have
suggested that it would take an elephant, balanced on a pencil to break
through a single sheet.
Already dubbed a
miracle material due to its strength, lightness, flexibility,
conductivity and low cost, it could now enter the market to dramatically
improve telecommunications, researchers said.
"We've
seen an ultrafast optical response rate, using 'few-layer graphene',
which has exciting applications for the development of high speed
optoelectronic components based on graphene," lead researcher Dr Enrico
Da Como said.
"This fast response is in the
infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum,many applications in
telecommunications, security and also medicine are currently developing
and affecting our society," said Da Como.
"The
more we find out about graphene the more remarkable its properties seem
to be. This research shows that it also has unique optical properties
which could find important new applications," Co-Director of the Centre
for Graphene Science at Bath, Professor Simon Bending added.
In the long term this research could also lead to the development of quantum cascade lasers based on graphene.
Quantum
cascade lasers are semiconductor lasers used in pollution monitoring,
security and spectroscopy. Few-layer graphene could emerge as a unique
platform for this interesting application.
The study was published in Physical Review Letters.
No comments:
Post a Comment