Researchers at Duke test photonic crystal waveguide

Researchers at Duke University have demonstrated a photonic crystal waveguide capable of directing photons of light around sharp corners with virtually no losses due to backscattering.

The photonic crystal waveguide was built on the concept of topological insulators. A research paper on the topic was published in the November 12 issue of Nature Nanotechnology and an overview is posted on the university's website.

The smaller the device the better, but of course we’re trying to minimize losses as well,” said Wiktor Walasik, a postdoctoral associate in electrical and computer engineering at Duke. “There are a lot of people working to make an all-optical computing system possible. We’re not there yet, but I think that’s the direction we’re going.”

https://pratt.duke.edu/about/news/optical-waveguide