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Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have managed to generate tiny "nano-light hedgehogs" called optical skyrmions, which could allow groundbreaking advances in the processing, transfer, and storage of light. information.
The research, published recently in Science was led by Professor Guy Bartal of the Viterbi Electrical Engineering Department and Professor Netanel Lindner of the Technion Physics Department. The research team also included Professor Bergin Gjonaj from the Faculty of Medicine of the Albanian University of Tirana; as well as Shai Tsesses, Evgeni Ostrovsky and Kobi Cohen, all research students at the Technion.
The term "skyrmion" is derived from the name of Dr. Tony Skyrme, an English physicist who, in 1962, discovered that the energetic arrangements of physical systems with fields that have a "hedgehog-like configuration" benefit from the ability of the body. improved stability. Over the years, the concept has been applied to several material systems, including magnets. Hedgehog arrangements are considered as a very promising alternative for data representation, which could dramatically increase the memory storage of the computer.
Currently, most of the world's information is inserted or extracted on hard drives via a mechanical arm. But skyrmions-based information management requires only weak electrical currents. And skyrmions have nanoscale dimensions – with diameters 10,000 times smaller than those of a lock of hair. These features are the reason why skyrmions should significantly optimize, accelerate and reduce the cost of processing, transferring and storing information.
The Technion researchers were the first to extend Dr. Skyrme's idea to the world of optics. skyrmions using the electric field of electromagnetic waves. Unlike "regular" light waves, whose electric fields usually point in a specific direction (an underlying physical principle, for example, polarized sunglbades), Technion researchers have shown that an electric field can take a form of "skyrmion". in all directions, so that its spatial configuration resembles the quills of a hedgehog. In addition, they have shown that these "light hedgehogs" are robust against various defects in the material harboring electromagnetic waves.
The successful generation of skrymions in electromagnetic waves can be of critical importance in practical applications. To date, materials in which skrymions are formed are very rare and generally require cooling at very low temperatures, usually achieved with liquid nitrogen or helium. The Technion team's new discovery could allow future replication of this unique effect in a wide range of systems and materials, including liquids, nanoparticle systems and even cold atomic gases. It could also serve as a basis for new skyrmion applications in the processing, transfer and storage of optical (rather than magnetic) information.
Learn more:
Meet the exotic skyrmions-quasiparticles could revolutionize the computer
More information:
S. Tsesses et al. Optical skyrmion network in evanescent electromagnetic fields, Science (2018). DOI: 10.1126 / science.aau0227
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