In an optical cavity -- a filament lined with mirrors -- researchers have used light to bind together quantum mechanical states of two disparate materials. The result could one day enable more robust, efficient solar cells and lighting solutions. Credit: Tal Galfsky, CUNY Like a spring connecting two swings, light can act as photon glue that binds together the quantum mechanical properties of two vastly different materials. The effect could harness the most useful characteristics from each material for hybrid solar cells and high efficiency lighting, among other applications. Researchers at the University of Michigan and Queens College, City University of New York, used light to create links between organic and inorganic semiconductors in an optical cavity —a mirror-lined nanoscale filament about 1/1,000th the width of a hair. Semiconductors are materials whose electrical conductivity can be adjusted by adding impurities, known as dopant atoms. Th...
Feel the Science it in its own Backyard