Modern electronics are founded on switching the electrical signal by radio frequency electromagnetic fields on the nanosecond time scale, limiting the information processing to the gigahertz speed. Recently, optical switches have been demonstrated using terahertz and ultrafast laser pulses to control the electrical signal and enhance the switching speed to the picosecond and a few hundred femtoseconds time scale. Here, we exploit the reflectivity modulation of the fused silica dielectric system in a strong light field to demonstrate the optical switching (ON/OFF) with attosecond time resolution. Moreover, we present the capability of controlling the optical switching signal with complex synthesized fields of ultrashort laser pulses for data binary encoding. This work paves the way for establishing optical switches and light-based electronics with petahertz speeds, several orders of magnitude faster than the current semiconductor-based electronics, opening a new realm in information technology, optical communications, and photonic processor technologies.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adf1015 | DOI Listing |
Adv Mater
January 2025
Liquid Crystals and Photonics Group, Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 126, Ghent, 9052, Belgium.
In liquid crystal (LC) cells, the surface patterning directs the self-assembly of the uniaxial building blocks in the bulk, enabling the design of stimuli-response optical devices with various functionalities. The combination of different anchoring patterns at both substrates can lead to surface induced frustration, preventing a purely planar and defect-free configuration. In cells with crossed assembly of rotating anchoring patterns, elastic deformations allow to obtain a defect-free bulk configuration, but an electrical stimulus can induce disclination lines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolymers (Basel)
January 2025
Centre for Advanced Devices and Systems, Faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University, Persiaran Multimedia, Cyberjaya 63100, Selangor, Malaysia.
Electrochromic devices (ECDs) are devices that change their optical properties in response to a low applied voltage. These devices typically consist of an electrochromic layer, a transparent conducting substrate, and an electrolyte. The advancement in solid-state ECDs has been driven by the need for improved durability, optical performance, and energy efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecules
December 2024
College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang 473061, China.
In this article, a series of novel conducting copolymers P(FuPy--EDOT) are prepared via cyclic voltammetry electropolymerization method by using N-furfuryl pyrrole (FuPy) and 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) as comonomers. The molecular structure, surface morphology, electrochemical, and optical properties of the resulting copolymers are characterized in detail upon varying the feed ratios of FuPy/EDOT in the range of 1/1 to 1/9. The results demonstrate that the prepared P(FuPy--EDOT) copolymers with a higher proportion of EDOT units (FuPy/EDOT: 2/8~1/9) possess good redox activity, tunable optical absorption performances, and low band gaps (1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNano Lett
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Chemistry and Biomedicine Innovation Center (ChemBIC), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
Electroresponsive multicolored materials have tremendous potential in flexible electronics and smart wearable devices. Herein, the electrochromic dynamics and morphological evolution of a single soft polyaniline nanoentity can be visualized and decoupled by an opto-electrochemical imaging strategy. The durability, tinting speed, and reversibility down to the single-nanoparticle level are quantified, and the switching of transient intermediate electrochromic states is trapped.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Norepinephrine in vertebrates and its invertebrate analog, octopamine, regulate the activity of neural circuits. We find that, when hungry, larvae switch activity in type II octopaminergic motor neurons (MNs) to high-frequency bursts, which coincide with locomotion-driving bursts in type I glutamatergic MNs that converge on the same muscles. Optical quantal analysis across hundreds of synapses simultaneously reveals that octopamine potentiates glutamate release by tonic type Ib MNs, but not phasic type Is MNs, and occurs via the G-coupled octopamine receptor (OAMB).
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