What would happen if the speed of light was slowed down 10,000 times? Photonic chips can tell you

Slowing down the speed of light: The new mystery of photonic chips

Have you ever wondered what would happen if we could slow down light? This is not science fiction, but a cutting-edge technology that scientists are studying. Recently, Li Guangyuan's team at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered a new way to slow down the speed of light on a photonic chip, a discovery that is expected to have a significant impact in multiple fields. So, what exactly is this new method? Let's unveil its mystery together.

First of all, we need to understand what the speed of light is. The speed of light is the fastest speed in the universe and the upper limit of the propagation speed of all matter and information. In a vacuum, the speed of light is about 300,000 kilometers per second. This speed is so fast that we can hardly perceive its passage. But scientists have been exploring how to slow down the speed of light. Why is this?

It turns out that the speed of light is not constant. When light propagates in a medium, its speed slows down. This phenomenon is also very common in daily life. For example, when we insert a chopstick into water, we will find that the chopstick looks like it is broken. This is because the speed of light in air and water is different. Scientists want to slow down the speed of light in order to better manipulate photons and develop more efficient photonic chip devices.

So, how to slow down the speed of light? Li Guangyuan's team proposed a new method, which is to use specially designed structures on photonic chips to control the propagation of light. This method is like setting up some special sections on the highway to slow down vehicles. In this way, scientists have successfully slowed down the speed of light on photonic chips.

So, what are the benefits of slowing down the speed of light? First of all, slowing down the speed of light can improve the performance of photonic chips. Imagine if we can make light propagate slowly on the chip, then we can better control and manipulate photons, thereby achieving more efficient optical communications, optical computing, optical caching and other functions. This is of great significance for future information processing and transmission.

Secondly, slowing down the speed of light can also play an important role in the field of light sensing. By controlling the speed of light, we can better detect and measure parameters such as light intensity and wavelength, thereby achieving more accurate light sensing technology. This has important application value in environmental monitoring, medical diagnosis and other fields.

In addition, slowing down the speed of light also provides new ideas for the research of slow light technology. Slow light technology has attracted much attention in recent years. It can store and transmit a large amount of information in a very short time and is expected to become one of the important pillars of the next generation of information technology. The research of Li Guangyuan's team provides new possibilities for the development of slow light technology and is expected to promote greater breakthroughs in this field.

In short, slowing down the speed of light is an exciting frontier technology that will not only help improve the performance of photonic chips, but will also be widely used in the fields of optical sensing, optical communications, optical computing, and optical caching. The research results of Li Guangyuan's team provide new ideas and directions for the development of this field. We look forward to the further development and application of this technology, and believe that it will bring more surprises and conveniences to mankind in the near future.

Guangdong and Guangxi science popularization is compiled from relevant reports from Science and Technology Daily and other media.