New research could transform high speed optical networks

Press release issued: 1 December 2014 There is an ever growing demand for high speed internet communication systems. New research has shown optical switching technology built on nanoantenna reflectarrays and tunable materials could transform high speed optical networks. The study by Dr Maciej Klemm and Professor Martin Cryan from the University of Bristol's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is published in the journal, Optics Express . The researchers propose using the concept of tunable optical antennas and antenna arrays for dynamic beam shaping and steering utilized in free-space optical inter/intra chip interconnects. Tunability of optical antennas is achieved by using phase change materials (PCMs), which exhibit different optical properties in the amorphous and crystalline states. By engineering optical antennas or antenna arrays, it is possible to design dynamic wireless optical links. In order to demonstrate this concept, the researchers modelled a PCM based tunable reflectarray configured to form a dynamic optical link between a source and two receivers.