Nature Podcast

The world’s smallest light-trapping silicon cavity

Dec 6, 2023

31:01

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Researchers have created the world's smallest silicon gap to trap light effectively, opening up potential applications for quantum computing. Other topics discussed include the ability of bottlenose dolphins to sense weak electric fields, the environmental cost of poverty reduction, the relationship between economic growth and emissions, the development of flexible robots inspired by octopus tentacles, and the impact of collaboration and remote work on scientific research.

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Quick takeaways

Researchers have created the world's smallest silicon gap, just two nanometers wide, to trap light effectively and enable potential applications in quantum computing and telecommunications.

Ending extreme poverty globally by 2050 would only increase emissions by 5% or less, suggesting that poverty reduction can be achieved without significantly exacerbating climate change.

Deep dives

Trapping Light with a Tiny Bowtie Structure

Researchers have created a tiny bowtie-shaped structure with the smallest cavity ever made, just two nanometers across. The cavity can trap light, increasing its interaction with matter and enabling potential applications in quantum computing. The team used nanolithography to create the structure and overcame challenges of size limitations by exploiting intermolecular attraction to assemble the cavity. This breakthrough could pave the way for the development of novel devices with applications in various fields.

Introduction

3min

Trapping Light with Tiny Cavities

7min

Bottlenose Dolphins' Ability to Detect Electric Fields and the Relationship Between Emissions and Wealth

2min

The Relationship Between Economic Growth, Extreme Poverty, and Emissions

8min

Creating Flexible Robots Inspired by Octopus Tentacles

10min

The Changing Nature of Science and Collaboration

3min

In this episode:

00:48 A gap for trapping light

Confining photons within materials opens up potential applications in quantum computing and telecommunications. But capturing light requires nanoscale cavities, which are difficult to make. This week, a team has created the smallest silicon gap yet for this purpose, just two nano-metres wide, by exploiting the intermolecular forces that are usually an obstacle when creating such small structures. They show this gap can trap light effectively, but they also believe that their method could be used to create tiny cavities for use in a range of different fields.

Research Article: Babar et al.

News and Views: Self-assembling structures close the gap to trap light

07:28 Research Highlights

Researchers head into the wilderness to search for dark matter, and the discovery that bottlenose dolphins can sense weak magnetic fields.

Research Highlight: The hunt for dark-matter particles ventures into the wild

Research Highlight: Dolphins have a feel for electric fields

09:54 The environmental cost of tackling poverty

Extreme poverty, defined as living on less than US$2.15 a day, affects around 10% of the world’s population. In the past, economic growth has generally been seen as key to reducing poverty; however, such growth has also led to an increase in climate-warming emissions. To find out whether poverty can be tackled without costing the planet, a team of researchers modelled how different levels of economic growth would affect global emissions. They found that ending poverty has only a negligible impact on emissions, which could be lowered even further by decarbonising energy production.

Research Article: Wollburg et al.

News and Views: Tackling extreme poverty around the world need not impede climate action

News: Catastrophic change looms as Earth nears climate ‘tipping points’, report says

News: Scientists skip COP28 to demand climate action at home