Device uses light to rapidly turn a switch on and off

According to a statement, the device uses light to turn a mechanical switch of light on and off at high speed — a development that could lead to advances in computation and signal processing.

The research results were published in the online journal Nature Communications.

’This device is similar to electromechanical relays but operates completely with light,’ said Mo Li, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering in the university’s College of Science and Engineering.

The new study is based on a previous discovery by Li and collaborators in 2008 where they found that nanoscale light conduits can be used to generate a strong enough optical force with light to mechanically move the optical waveguide.

In the new device, the researchers found that this force of light is so strong that the mechanical property of the device can be dominated completely by the optical effect rather than its own mechanical structure.

The effect is amplified to control additional coloured light signals at a much higher power level.