June 4, 2024
Keio University
Rice University
A research group led by Professor Hideyuki Maki of the Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University; Andrea Zacchèo, a second-year master's student (at the time of the research) in the Graduate School of Science and Technology at the same university; Shinichiro Matano, a second-year student in the Doctoral Programs at the same university; and Professor Junichiro Kono of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University in the United States has successfully developed a highly polarized thermal light source using highly aligned and high-density aligned carbon nanotube films, which are one-dimensional nanomaterials.
Polarized light (linearly polarized light) is light in which the electric and magnetic fields oscillate in a specific direction, and it is used in a wide range of fields such as sensing, optical devices, and analysis. To obtain polarized light over a wide wavelength band, monochromatic laser light cannot be used. Therefore, it was necessary to generate it by combining a thermal light source, such as an incandescent light bulb, with a polarizer, but miniaturization and integration were difficult. In response, this research group has been developing micro-sized polarized thermal light sources using aligned carbon nanotube films. However, further performance improvements were required, as the degree of polarization was not very high.
This time, by developing a device with a new structure in which aligned carbon nanotube films are crosslinked, the group succeeded in obtaining a high degree of polarization with high efficiency. The developed device achieved a maximum degree of polarization of approximately 0.9, a significant improvement compared to the 0.6 of conventional structures. Furthermore, the energy efficiency was also significantly improved, by more than 12 times compared to conventional structures. This light source is a micro-polarized thermal light source that can be fabricated by microfabrication on a silicon chip, and it is expected to contribute to new developments in polarization technology.
The results of this research were published in the online edition of ACS Nano by the American Chemical Society (ACS) on June 4, 2024.
Please see below for the full press release.