Ion doping makes chalcogenide glass a light emitter and detector as well as a light guide

Researchers from the University of Surrey (Guildford, England), the University of Southampton (Southampton, England), and the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK) have figured out how to change the electronic properties of amorphous chalcogenide glasses, which are naturally p-type semiconductors.¹ The group has been able to form n-type chalcogenide, and thus p-n junctions.

Such a development could enable the direct electronic control of nonlinear optical devices, and could lead to chalcogenide light sources and photodetectors, thus allowing a single material to produce, transmit, and detect light.

The researchers implanted bismuth ions in GaLaSO chalcogenide glass, then demonstrated rectification and photocurrent in the device.

“The challenge is to find a single material that can effectively use and control light to carry information around a computer,” says project leader Dr Richard Curry, who works at Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute (ATI). "Much like how the web uses light to deliver information, we want to use light to both deliver and process computer data. This has eluded researchers for decades, but now we have now shown how a widely used glass can be manipulated to conduct negative electrons, as well as positive charges."

The scientists expect that the results of this research may be integrated into computers within ten years. In the short term, the glass is already being developed and used in next-generation computer memory technology known as chalcogenide random-access memory (CRAM), which may ultimately be integrated with the advances reported.

Source: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/features/new-research-lights-way-super-fast-computers

REFERENCE:

1. Mark A. Hughes et al., Nature COmmunications (2014); doi: 10.1038/ncomms6346