Volume 14, Number 22, 10652-10656 (October 2006).
Polymorphic nanoparticles as all-optical memory elements
B. F. Soares, M. V. Bashevoy, F. Jonsson, K. F. MacDonald and N. I. Zheludev
EPSRC Nanophotonics Portfolio Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.Abstract
A nanoparticle undergoing light-induced transformations between structural phases with different optical properties is an inheritably bistable structure and this bistability can be used to create a resonator-free optical memory element, operating at very low power levels. We experimentally demonstrate this memory functionality using a film of gallium nanoparticles, and we present a method for differentially accessing the logic state of the memory using a modulated optical probe beam.
Full text: PDF [293 kB] | DOI: 10.1364/oe.14.010652
Optics Infobase: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=oe-14-22-10652