Nanostructures Enable On-chip Lightwave-electronic Frequency Mixer

September 4, 2024

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. The process enabling this shifting of signal frequencies is called frequency mixing, and it is essential for communication technologies like radio and Wi-Fi.

Now imagine a frequency mixer that works at a quadrillion (PHz, petahertz) times per second. The MIT team’s demonstration of a lightwave-electronic mixer at petahertz-scale frequencies is a first step toward making communication technology faster, and progresses research toward developing new, miniaturized lightwave electronic circuitry capable of handling optical signals directly at the nanoscale.