(Press-News.org) In a significant advancement in optical technology, researchers from Tohoku University and Toyohashi University of Technology have developed a new method for creating transparent magnetic materials using laser heating. This breakthrough, recently published in the journal Optical Materials, presents a novel approach to integrating magneto-optical materials with optical devices, a long-standing challenge in the field.
"The key to this achievement lies in creating 'Cerium-substituted Yttrium Iron Garnet (Ce:YIG)', a transparent magnetic material, employing a specialized laser heating technique," points out Taichi Goto, associate professor at Tohoku University's Electrical Communication Research Institute (RIEC) and co-author of the study. "This method addresses the key challenge of integrating magneto-optical materials with optical circuits without damaging them - a problem that has hindered advancements in miniaturizing optical communication devices."
Magneto-optical isolators are vital for ensuring stable optical communication. They act like traffic directors for light signals, allowing them to move in one direction but not the other. Integrating these isolators into silicon-based photonic circuits is challenging due to the high-temperature processes typically involved.
As a result of this conundrum, Goto and his colleagues focused their attention on laser annealing - a technique that selectively heats specific areas of a material by laser. This allows for precise control, influencing only the targeted regions without affecting surrounding areas.
Previous studies had used this to selectively heat bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Bi: YIG) films deposited on a dielectric mirror. This allows the Bi:YIG to crystalize without affecting the dielectric mirror.
However, when working with Ce:YIG, an ideal material for optical devices due to its magnetic and optical properties, problems arise because exposure to the air results in unwanted chemical reactions.
To avoid this, the researchers engineered a new device that heats materials in a vacuum, i.e., without air, using a laser. This allowed for precise heating of small areas (about 60 micrometers) without altering the surrounding material.
"The transparent magnetic material created through this method is expected to significantly enhance the development of compact magneto-optical isolators, crucial for stable optical communication," adds Goto. "Additionally, it opens avenues for creating powerful miniaturized lasers, high-resolution displays, and small optical devices."
END
The breakthrough is a step towards the development of next-generation magnetic devices that control light
2023-12-15
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
How an overlooked study over a century ago helped fuel the Colorado River crisis
2023-12-15
When it comes to the Colorado River, history often repeats itself—but it doesn’t have to.
That’s the take-home message from CU Boulder hydrologist Shemin Ge, who will present a little-known piece of history from the river this Thursday at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco.
The story of hydrologist Eugene Clyde La Rue, Ge said, may help to explain the current water crisis facing many states in the American West.
Ge’s presentation centers around a decision ...
Basic monthly income trial at USC shows promise with significant reduction in homelessness
2023-12-15
Researchers at the Center for Homelessness, Housing, and Health Equity Research at the University of Southern California released an interim report on the first six months of a randomized controlled trial to study the impact of a basic income and social support intervention for 103 individuals experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Two key findings so far are that participants in the Miracle Money study who received $750 per month were less likely to remain unsheltered and closer ...
New gene therapy could significantly reduce seizures in severe childhood epilepsy
2023-12-15
UCL researchers have developed a new gene therapy to cure a devastating form of childhood epilepsy, which a new study shows can significantly reduce seizures in mice.
The study, published in Brain, sought to find an alternative to surgery for children with focal cortical dysplasia.
Focal cortical dysplasia is caused by areas of the brain that have developed abnormally and is among the most common causes of drug-resistant epilepsy in children. It frequently occurs in the frontal lobes, which are important for planning and decision-making. Epilepsy in focal cortical dysplasia is associated with comorbidities, including learning disabilities.
Although surgery to remove the affected brain malformation ...
Mount Sinai receives $1.3 million from the National Institutes of Health to support program that introduces high school students to virus surveillance
2023-12-15
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has received more than $1.3 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand the New York City Virus Hunters program. The program engages high school students from communities historically underrepresented in science in the first large-scale citizen science effort to catalog and map circulating avian influenza and avian paramyxoviruses in New York City’s wild birds. The goal is to track emerging viruses and to prevent future outbreaks.
Wild birds can disseminate infectious ...
UM School of Medicine awarded up to $7.3M from DARPA to drive innovation in trauma triage technology, improve mass casualty response efforts
2023-12-15
In an effort to better optimize the triage of patients during mass casualty events, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers are receiving up to $7.3 million in funding from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) for vital new research. The funding will be used to support a study that will collect data over the next 3.5 years on trauma patients with the aim of identifying and implementing lifesaving advancements in medical triage for large-scale mass casualty incidents.
“The importance of early interventions in trauma is described as the concept of the ‘golden ...
Transportation planning goes virtual
2023-12-15
Freight transportation is a backbone of the US economy — and a significant contributor to US greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, freight accounts for nearly 10% of annual U.S. emissions,ISE Dan Doulet Faculty Fellow and Professor Xueping Li points out. Li and an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional team have been awarded funding from the US Department of Energy to launch a first-of-its-kind, national-scale undertaking to address freight’s impact on climate change — and climate change’s impact on this vital sector.
Funding from DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is highly competitive. “Any ...
Zhou’s new tech has low-income housing covered
2023-12-15
When looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, most people think of first of their car, not their house. Surprisingly, however, buildings make up one of the largest energy-consuming sectors of the US economy, accounting for 39 percent of the country’s total energy use.
“Heating and cooling are among the most energy-intensive parts of building operations,” said Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Nick Zhou, who leads UT’s Sustainable and Adaptive Built Environment Group in ...
New framework to identify genetic risk of disease could lead to targeted therapeutics
2023-12-15
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on patient blood samples are useful for identifying the genetic basis of blood cell traits and their links to common diseases. While previous experiments have focused on characterizing clinical parameters such as cell count, few have evaluated the dynamic effects of factors—such as inflammation, microbiome or medications—on blood cell contributions to disease development and progression. This lack of insight into underlying biological mechanisms behind such chronic progressive conditions has hindered ...
Newly developed material gulps down hydrogen, spits it out, protects fusion reactor walls
2023-12-14
MADISON – University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have used a spray coating technology to produce a new workhorse material that can withstand the harsh conditions inside a fusion reactor.
The advance, detailed in a paper published recently in the journal Physica Scripta, could enable more efficient compact fusion reactors that are easier to repair and maintain.
“The fusion community is urgently looking for new manufacturing approaches to economically produce large plasma-facing components in fusion reactors,” says Mykola Ialovega, a postdoctoral researcher in nuclear engineering and engineering physics at ...
Tufts University announces Second Annual Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day
2023-12-14
Tufts University, home to the world’s largest concentration of academic researchers working on cultivated meat, will be hosting its second annual Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day on January 11, 2024. The day-long event will be held at Tufts’ Joyce Cummings Center in Medford, following a year of major developments in the industry — including regulatory approval of cultivated meat in the United States. Bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors, Cellular Agriculture Innovation Day is an opportunity for candid ...