State-changeable device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9595328-B2
Application number	US-201414914030-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 14, 2014
Priority date	Aug 30, 2013
Publication date	Mar 14, 2017
Grant date	Mar 14, 2017

Abstract

A state-changeable device includes a first and a second particle arranged in proximity to each other; and a coupling material between the first and the second particle; wherein the first and the second particle are adapted to provide a charge carrier distribution such that surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) occur; the coupling material is adapted to exhibit a variable conductivity in response to a trigger signal thereby changing an electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle; and the first and the second particle are arranged in proximity to each other such that a first SPP configuration corresponds to a first electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle and a second SPP configuration corresponds to a second electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A state-changeable device comprising:
a first and a second particle; and
a coupling material between the first and the second particle; wherein,
the first and the second particle are adapted to provide a charge carrier distribution such that surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) occur;
the coupling material is adapted to exhibit a variable conductivity in response to a trigger signal for changing an electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle; and
the first and the second particle are arranged in proximity to each other such that a first SPP configuration corresponds to a first electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle, and a second SPP configuration corresponds to a second electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle.

2. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the trigger signal is selected from the group consisting of: electromagnetic radiation, light, visible light, ultraviolet light, infrared radiation, an electric field, a magnetic field, an electromagnetic field, in particular a time-varying field, and combinations thereof.

3. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material is adapted to be reversibly changed from an insulating state into a conducting state by the trigger signal.

4. The state-changeable device of claim 3 , wherein the insulating state can be induced by a trigger signal or irradiation of switching light having a first switching frequency and/or the conducting state can be induced by irradiation of switching light having a second switching frequency.

5. The state-changeable device of claim 4 , wherein the first and the second particle are adapted such that an SPP resonance frequency corresponding to the second SPP configuration has a predetermined distance to the first and/or second switching frequency.

6. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein switching light as the trigger signal corresponds to wavelengths, which are longer than the dimensions of the first and second particles.

7. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material is part of a functionalized coating of the first and/or second particle.

8. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material includes ligands that are adapted to form a charge coupling between the first and the second particle in response to the trigger signal.

9. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material is photochromic.

10. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the particles are nanoparticles having a diameter between 1 nm and 100 nm.

11. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the particles are metallic particles or semiconducting particles.

12. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein a distance between the particles is between 1 nm and 10 μm.

13. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , further comprising additional particles for forming a plurality of particles wherein the plurality of particles is adapted to provide a charge carrier distribution such that surface plasmon polaritons occur.

14. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the particles are selected from the group consisting of: gold (Au), silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), and combinations thereof.

15. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling are selected from the group consisting of: diarylethene, an oxide material, redox-active molecules, a dielectric material, and combinations thereof.

16. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material couples the first and the second particle mechanically.

17. A memory device comprising:
at least one state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein a first memory state is assigned to the first SPP configuration; and
a second memory state is assigned to the second SPP configuration.

18. The memory device of claim 17 , further comprising a first and a second optical waveguide for irradiating light to the state-changeable device, wherein the state-changeable device is arranged between the first and a second optical waveguide.

19. A switching device comprising at least one state-changeable device of claim 1 , further comprising a first and a second plasmonic waveguide coupled to the state-changeable device.

20. The switching device of claim 19 , further comprising a first and a second optical waveguide, wherein the first plasmonic waveguide is coupled to the first optical waveguide, and the second plasmonic waveguide is coupled to the second optical waveguide.

21. A method for storing a memory state comprising:
providing a first and a second particle arranged in proximity to each other;
electro-optically coupling the first and the second particle through a coupling material, wherein
the particles are adapted to provide a charge carrier distribution such that surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) occur; and wherein the coupling material is adapted to exhibit a variable conductivity in response to a trigger signal;
the particles are arranged such that a first SPP configuration corresponds to a first electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle and a second SPP configuration corresponds to a second electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle;
assigning a first memory state to the first SPP configuration; and
assigning a second memory state to the second SPP configuration.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Loertscher Emanuel

Classifications

• G02B2207/101

  Nanooptics · CPC title

• G11C11/42

  using opto-electronic devices, i.e. light-emitting and photoelectric devices electrically- or optically- coupled {or feedback-coupled} · CPC title

• G02B6/262

  Optical details of coupling light into, or out of, or between fibre ends, e.g. special fibre end shapes or associated optical elements · CPC title

• G11C13/047 Primary

  using electro-optical elements (G11C13/042 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B5/008

  Surface plasmon devices (diffractive gratings with a pitch less than or comparable to the wavelength G02B5/1809; surface plasmons in integrated optics G02B6/1226; optical analysis of materials by means of surface plasmons G01N21/553) · CPC title