{"id":1275,"date":"2021-04-11T13:42:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T17:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ideas\/?p=1275"},"modified":"2021-04-28T14:11:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T18:11:30","slug":"spinning-light-could-lead-to-new-ways-of-communicating-and-gathering-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ideas\/spinning-light-could-lead-to-new-ways-of-communicating-and-gathering-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Spinning light could lead to new ways of communicating"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Spinning light could lead to new ways of communicating and gathering data<\/h1><\/div>

<\/span><\/div>By Paul Alongi,<\/span><\/strong> Clemson University<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

T<\/span>op researchers from across the country are developing new technology to control an unusual property of light that could make it possible to channel through fog, murky water and thermal turbulence, potentially leading to new ways of communicating and gathering data.<\/p><\/h2><\/div>

The research brings together researchers from six universities and is led by Eric Johnson,<\/b> the PalmettoNet Endowed Chair in Optoelectronics at Clemson University. The team has received a $7.5 million grant to fund the project through the Office of Naval Research\u2019s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI).<\/p>\n

The research sharpens the focus on \u201corbital angular momentum,\u201d a way of making light twist or spin in specific directions, even reversing course from clockwise to counterclockwise, or vice versa, as it travels from one point to another.<\/p>\n

This twisting and spinning light can move tiny bits of matter, such as the water molecules that create fog or the bits of material that make water cloudy. The idea is to use these properties in space and time to cut channels through cloudy air or water.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Eric Johnson (right),<\/strong> the PalmettoNet Endowed Chair in Optoelectronics, and Joe Watkins (left),<\/b> director of General Engineering, work with a student at their lab in the Duke Energy Innovation Center.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Researchers are also studying how it could be possible to use the spinning light to push through thermal turbulence, the natural occurrence that makes it look as if waves are rising from a highway on a hot day.<\/p>\n

The channels could open a wide range of possibilities. It could be possible, for example, to send pulses of light through a channel to communicate, similar to how a fiber-optic cable carries information, except without the cable.<\/p>\n

The channels could also open the door to new ways of gathering data by combining them with a broad range of techniques known in the research community as \u201csensing.\u201d For example, it could be possible to use these spinning beams of light from a satellite to the ocean to monitor water temperature and currents.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, we have to understand what\u2019s happening at the fundamental level,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cIt\u2019s as if we have these knobs to control that we never had before, and we want to know what we can do with them. We don\u2019t understand them well enough to say what the limitations might be or how we can further exploit the possibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research will allow us to do that. At the end, we will have that fundamental understanding and know where we can go with it at the application level.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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This project gives us a solid, five-year research program that allows us to touch students at all levels. It gives them real-world experience both in the fabrication and the application in the integration of technologies. That\u2019s something students are always clamoring for\u2013 some experience outside of the classroom.<\/h2><\/div>

Eric Johnson, <\/strong>PalmettoNet Endowed Chair in Optoelectronics at Clemson University<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

In its research, the team is using a 20-meter tunnel designed by Joe Watkins, <\/b>who conducted research on directed energy when he was a captain in the Navy and is now General Engineering director and mechanical engineering professor at Clemson University.<\/p>\n

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The tunnel, set up in a Clemson lab at the Duke Innovation Center in Anderson, blocks airflow from the environment and protects researchers from the laser beam. Inside the tunnel is a system that generates a turbulent atmosphere for light to pass through.<\/p>\n

When researchers shot a laser down the tunnel as a demonstration, the green beam hit a white rectangle at the other end, creating concentric circles with waves rippling through them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pushing a lot of turbulence into 20 meters,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cEven though it\u2019s a 20-meter path, it\u2019s as if the beam had traveled 1-2 kilometers. It\u2019s a way to do a controlled experiment in the lab that would be impossible outside. The optical path within the tunnel can be extended to 100 meters, allowing us to see severe turbulence effects that would be similar to a 5-10 kilometer path outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the top researchers in their fields are collaborating on the project as part of this MURI award. They include:<\/p>\n

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  • Natalia M. Litchinitser,<\/b> a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University<\/li>\n
  • Alan E. Willner,<\/b> the Steven and Kathryn Sample Chair in Engineering at the University of Southern California<\/li>\n
  • Robert Boyd,<\/b> a professor of optics and physics at the University of Rochester<\/li>\n
  • Aristide Dogariu,<\/b> the Pegasus Professor of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida<\/li>\n
  • Greg Gbur,<\/b> a professor of optics and physics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>