Nanostructures Enable On-Chip Lightwave-Electronic Frequency Mixer
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The demonstration of a lightwave-electronic mixer at petahertz-scale frequencies is a first step toward making communication technology faster and advances research toward developing new, miniaturized lightwave electronic circuitry capable of handling optical signals directly at the nanoscale. Credit: Sampson Wilcox/Research Laboratory of Electronics
Imagine how a phone call works. Your voice is converted into electronic signals, shifted up to higher frequencies, transmitted over long distances, and then shifted back down so it can be heard clearly on the other end.