Forever glowing bubbles

To combine the speed of optical communication with the portability of electronic circuitry, researchers use nanoplasmonics. These devices use short electromagnetic waves to modulate light on the nanometre scale, where conventional optics do not work. However, aiming and focusing this modulated light beam at desired targets is difficult.

‘There are different solid-state devices to control [light beams], to switch them or modulate them, but the tenability and reconfigurability are very limited,’ said Tony Jun Huang, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics. ‘Using a bubble has a lot of advantages.’

The main advantage of a bubble lens is just how quickly and easily researchers can reconfigure the bubble’s location, size, and shape, all of which affect the direction and focus of any light beam passing through it.

Huang’s team are said to have created separate simulations of the light beams and bubble lens to predict their behaviours and optimize conditions before combining the two in the laboratory. They published their findings in Nature Communications.