Scientists 'squeeze' light more tightly

Berkeley, Calif -- U.S. scientists say they've found a way to squeeze light more tightly than believed possible, potentially leading to new optical communication technologies.

The University of California-Berkeley optics researchers led by Professor Xiang Zhang said they devised a way to confine light in spaces on the order of 10 nanometers -- more than 100 times thinner than optical fibers.

"This technique could give us remarkable control over light," said Rupert Oulton, a research associate in Zhang's group and lead author of the study.

"That would spell out amazing things for the future in terms of what we could do with that light … it's the Holy Grail for the future of communications."

Oulton also believes the new technique of confining light could have huge ramifications. "We are pulling optics down to the length scales of electrons," he said. "And that means we can potentially do some things we have never done before."

The study that included Volker Sorger, Dentcho Genov and David Pile appears in the journal Nature Photonics.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.