Breakthrough in Plasmonics

(EPFL, June 20, 2013)

A plasmon is a wave that is generated by light impacting a metal surface, and it can be used to transmit information. This phenomenon has the potential to change computation and communication devices by combining the advantage of a metal transmission surface (versus a more complex optical fiber) and the speed of optical transmission. The result could be processors that are significantly faster than current-generation ones. Researchers at the Max Planck-EPFL Center for Molecular Nanoscience and Technology have discovered that plasmons can be controlled down to smaller than the level of individual molecules by using the molecular orbits, an important advancement in the use of plasmonics.