China scientists deliver good news again!

　　Source: Xinhua News Agency client

　　Optical waveguide is the key to realize photoelectric integration and photon integration. The reporter recently learned from Anhui University that the research team of the Advanced Materials Atomic Engineering Research Center of Anhui University discovered the optical waveguide behavior in metal nanoclusters. This is an important new phenomenon of light propagation found in metal nanocluster materials, which fills the gap in the study of photonic properties of nanoclusters and enriches the research of active optical waveguides and polarized luminescent materials. Related results were recently published in the international journal Science.

　　▲ Data Map: The relevant achievements of the research team of the Advanced Materials Atomic Engineering Research Center of Anhui University were recently published in the international journal Science.

　　Optical waveguide has the characteristics of strong anti-interference ability and high fidelity, which is widely used in electro-optic modulator, photonic coupler, photonic circuit and other fields. At present, many kinds of photonic nanostructures have been developed as optical waveguide materials, but they still have some problems such as high optical loss and complex manufacturing process. Metal nanoclusters protected by ligands have good optical properties and large Stokes shift, which make them very suitable for optoelectronic devices, and the optical properties of the clusters can be regulated by means of metal doping, ligand regulation and valence state adjustment. Therefore, metal nanoclusters are very suitable for optical waveguide materials.

　　The research team of Professor Zhu Manzhou and Associate Professor Chen Shuang of Anhui University found that the two kinds of metal nanoclusters protected by ligands have excellent optical waveguide properties, and their optical loss coefficients are lower than those of most inorganic, organic and hybrid materials. The crystal arrangement and molecular orientation of the two kinds of metal nanoclusters lead to their extremely high polarization ratio, which provides a new member for the active waveguide and polarized material family. This has a potential application prospect in the future information storage, integrated optics and other fields.

　　Optical waveguide materials are key components in optical devices and optical systems, and play an important role in optical communication, optical sensing and optical computing. The discovery of optical waveguide behavior of metal nanoclusters provides a theoretical basis and application prospect for developing ligand-protected metal nanoclusters as active optical waveguide materials, and supports the construction of miniaturized integrated nanophotonic devices based on clusters.