New crystal tech supercharges light on a chip--No lens needed

By Knowridge -April 20, 2025



Artist's impression of the light concentration at the 'wall' at the end of the waveguide. Credit: AMOLF.

A team of researchers from the Netherlands and the U.S. has found a new way to concentrate light in an incredibly tiny space—about the size of the light’s own wavelength.

This breakthrough could improve technologies like quantum communication, advanced sensors, and tiny lasers used in photonic chips.

The study was led by scientists from AMOLF, TU Delft, and Cornell University and was published in Science Advances on April 18.

Concentrating light on a very small scale is difficult but essential for many modern technologies.

Traditionally, scientists have used two main methods: one relies on resonance (where light is trapped in a cavity but only at one specific wavelength), and the other uses waveguides that act like funnels, squeezing light into a narrow path.

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