Colloquia

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Graduation Commencement

Colloquium Abstract

Date: March 11 (120 Smith Hall at 2:00pm)

Speaker: Eric Mazur, Harvard University

Title: Wrapping Light Around A Hair

Abstract:

Can light be guided by a fiber whose diameter is much smaller than the wavelength of the light? Can we mold the flow of light on the micrometer scale so it wraps, say, around a hair? Until recently the answer to these questions was ‘no’. We developed a technique for drawing long, free-standing silica wires with diameters down to 50 nm that have a surface smoothness at the atomic level and a high uniformity of diameter. Light can be launched into these silica nanowires by optical evanescent coupling and the wires allow low-loss single-mode operation. They can be bent sharply, making it possible to control the propagation of light around micrometer-sized corners. The nanowires have applications in microphotonic devices for optical processing and environmental sensing.