The Device That Shrinks Huge Light Waves to Pinpoints

Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation that exists all around us, in nature as well as in man-made applications. It's the manipulation of these light waves that made possible some of the most widely used technologies of today, from cameras to microwave ovens and medical imaging machines.

A new device, developed by researchers at the University of Michigan, can focus electromagnetic waves with high precision, down to a pinpoint size. This scientific breakthrough could pave the way for new technologies, as Roberto Merlin, professor of physics at U-M, explains in his research.

Natural and artificial materials respond differently to various wavelengths of light, for instance humans get tanned while exposed to ultraviolet light and reptiles use infrared light from the Sun to heat up, without which they can't function properly.

In the artificial world, the number of bits you can fit on a CD or DVD control the maximum amount of information that can be stored and these bits are generated by specific lengths of the electromagnetic waves.

The new method could overcome these wavelength limitations, using a newly developed formula applied to a device that looks like a disc etched with a specific pattern. The device allows light waves to pass through the patterned lens, which produce waves of different shapes and sizes.

However, unlike conventional lenses, this one doesn't refract light waves, instead it just reshapes them. There are many possible applications for this technology, like data storage devices, imaging, nanolithography and various non-contact sensors.

For instance, a CD or DVD produced with current technology but written using the new technique could store up to one hundred times more information just by using a specific wavelength, known as terahertz radiation, which has the wavelength of 300 gigahertz, 1,000 times higher than that of conventional writing lasers.