Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026
06:26
Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
7.2K
Microfluidic-Assisted Growth of Perovskite Microwires for Room-Temperature All-Optical Switching Based on Total
Annalisa Coriolano1, Antonio Fieramosca1, Laura Polimeno1
1CNR NANOTEC, Institute of Nanotechnology, via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
Nano Letters
|June 25, 2025
Summary
Researchers developed an all-optical switch using perovskite (PVK) exciton-polaritons. This breakthrough enables efficient light control in integrated photonic circuits at room temperature.
Area of Science:
- Photonics
- Materials Science
- Quantum Optics
Background:
- Integrated photonic circuits are crucial for information processing.
- Strong nonlinearities and exciton-polaritons are key challenges in photonics.
- Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (PVKs) show promise for room-temperature (RT) nonlinear interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop PVK-based integrated photonic devices with long in-plane propagation.
- To create alternative fabrication methods for PVKs that preserve optical properties.
- To demonstrate a proof-of-concept all-optical switch utilizing propagating polaritons.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing propagating polaritons confined within Total Internal Reflection (TIR) waveguides.
- Employing gold grating couplers for efficient injection and extraction of polariton modes.
- Fabricating devices on substrates to maintain PVK optical properties and prevent degradation.
Main Results:
- Achieved long in-plane propagation of polaritons confined by TIR.
- Demonstrated limited optical losses in the PVK-based waveguide.
- Successfully realized efficient injection and extraction of TIR-confined waveguide polariton modes.
Conclusions:
- PVK-based integrated photonic devices are feasible for advanced applications.
- TIR confinement and grating couplers are effective for long-propagation polaritons.
- This work paves the way for novel all-optical switching devices.
Related Concept Videos
01:05Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy
Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy or TIRF is an advanced microscopic technique used to visualize fluorophores in samples close to a solid surface with a higher refractive index, such as a glass coverslip. TIRF only allows fluorophores in proximity to the solid surface to be excited. When light from a medium with a lower refractive index (such as air) hits the glass coverslip at a critical angle, the light undergoes total internal reflection stead of passing through the glass.
01:15Transmission Electron Microscopy
In 1931, physicist Ernst Ruska—building on the idea that magnetic fields can direct an electron beam just as lenses can direct a beam of light in an optical microscope—developed the first prototype of the electron microscope. This development led to the development of the field of electron microscopy. In the transmission electron microscope (TEM), electrons are produced by a hot tungsten element and accelerated by a potential difference in an electron gun, which gives them up to 400 keV in...