Plasmonic nanoparticles tagged posts

“Device” is a disc 250 nm in diameter that is capable of switching optical pulses at femtosecond rates (femtosecond is a one millionth of one billionth of a second). Credit: Maxim Scherbakov et al

Researchers developed an ultrafast all-optical switch based on nonlinear dielectric silicon nanostructures. The operation of the switching is based on the interaction between 2 femtosecond pulses; at the same time, the undesirable free-carrier effects are suppressed. Ultrafast optical switching will permit to create data transmission and processing devices which will handle speeds high enough to download 1000s of HD-movies/sec.

Photons address the data transmission problem better than electrons...

Rice University researchers have demonstrated an efficient new way to capture the energy from sunlight and convert it into clean, renewable energy by splitting water molecules. Credit: I. Thomann/Rice University

Process uses Light-harvesting Gold Nanoparticles, captures energy from ‘hot electrons’ (highly excited electrons). “Hot electrons have the potential to drive very useful chemical reactions, but they decay very rapidly, and people have struggled to harness their energy,” said lead researcher Assistant/Prof Isabell Thomann “For example, most of the energy losses in today’s best photovoltaic solar panels are the result of hot electrons that cool within a few trillionths of a second and release their energy as wasted heat.”

Capturing these high-energy electrons before they cool could a...