Scientists at the National University of Singapore have developed a polarizer made from graphene to increase the bandwidth of existing fiber-optic communication systems. The research team worked under the supervision of Kian Ping Loh, a Professor at the National University of Singapore.
The research team developed an ultra-thin broadband polarizer made from a single-atomic-layer of crystallized carbon to obtain polarized light from a light source. This is the first experiment which uses graphene in an ultra-thin waveguide to modulate and couple light.
Light modulation by polarization is required to prevent fading of signal and the occurrence of errors in optical communications, interferometric sensors and optical gyroscopes. Graphene’s polarizing ability varies from mid-infrared to visible regions of the light spectrum. Researchers claimed that the graphene polarizer can be used for high-speed, multiple-channel optical communication.
The researchers fabricated the graphene polarizer by transferring graphene developed from chemical vapor deposition process on the side-polished optical fiber and determined light polarization at various wavelengths. The graphene polarizer has a unique property of filtering out transverse-magnetic-mode and supporting transverse-electric mode of surface wave propagation.
Source: http://www.nus.edu.sg/