While much work remains, scientists are continuing to make great progress in plasmon computing. They’re using plasmons—mobile charge disturbances—to create new types of computing devices. USC researcher Hector De los Santos has been the point man in this pioneering research. He originally imagined the possibility of computing with plasmons way back in 2009. His dogged pursuit resulted in a novel Y-junction device to exploit in 2024, and the world’s first artificial synapses. This nifty gadget displays a fundamental aspect of plasmonic logic.
The Y-junction device, about five square microns in size, marks an important breakthrough in the control of plasmons. This device is illustrative of the exciting applications plasmonics can bring. It is further a testament to the collaborative work between De Los Santos and researchers from Ohio State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Today, De Los Santos is guiding those plasmons around the insides of the device. His aim is to meet the challenges offered by conventional logic blocks based on currents.
The Evolution of Plasmon Computing
In 2010, Hector De Los Santos first suggested the idea of computing with plasmons. He expanded on his original concepts from the previous year. Ever since, he’s focused a vast amount of fundamental research understanding how these charge disturbances can be controlled and abused for computational tasks. Harnessing plasmons represents a significant departure from the computing paradigm we know. Instead of just using preexisting flows through semiconductor materials, this method creates a much larger range of new opportunities.
De Los Santos’s Y-junction device, which he and his collaborators created, exemplifies this new paradigm. By integrating two controls within the device, researchers can effectively manipulate one plasmon with another, showcasing the potential for advanced logic operations. This ability is remarkable since the two plasmons have the same character—either both are positive or both are negative. This unique property allows for interactions that conventional electronic components cannot replicate.
In 2024, De Los Santos was able to successfully prove the steering of a plasmon to one side using this Y-junction device. Today’s demonstration is a major step forward toward plasmon computing. It’s the first evidence of us being able to use plasmons for operational computational tasks. The research team thinks this technology could be as revolutionary to computation as the transistor. Perhaps most important, it has the potential to encourage novel, creative solutions that shatter existing paradigms.
Challenges and Future Directions
Even with exciting progress in plasmon computing, De Los Santos admits there’s a lot of work to be done. One of the greatest challenges is the deep misalignment between this exciting technology and the existing logic device paradigms. These devices are chiefly electric current-driven. Most of the approaches out there today advocate for a materials shift in what we use to compute. This would require a radical departure from the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication methods which now pervade today’s electronics.
Instead, De Los Santos focuses on his creative practice as an alternative form of computing altogether. Rather than attuning electron flow, he believes it’s about tuning the interactions between plasmons that’s key. For this reason, he claims it is crucial to understand and control these metallic nanostructure-plasmon-plasmon interactions to develop realistic plasmon-based devices. He featured a working prototype that iced the interaction of two cute plasmons. This thrilling demonstration lays the groundwork for exciting things to come.
The continuing explosion of technology underscores pressing demand for creativity and new solutions. The demand for computing continues to explode around the need for faster and more efficient computing systems. Researchers have recently taken a deep dive into plasmonic phenomena. Through their unique approach, they seek to democratize transformative computing advancements that have the potential to radically change several industries.
Collaborative Efforts and Future Research
As an academic, De Los Santos has worked with institutions including Ohio State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Until that day comes, their partnership has been invaluable for advancing plasmon computing research. This collaborative, multidisciplinary approach brings the expertise of physicists, engineers and materials scientists to bear on the problem. Collectively, they push the frontiers of plasmon manipulation and device fabrication.
De Los Santos is excited to further his research on plasmon computing. In particular, he aims to refine the Y-junction device, and investigate its potential applications. The ability to control one plasmon with another opens up avenues for developing more sophisticated logic gates and computational architectures. Researchers are dreaming big on what developments this new technology can bring to the world, from AI to quantum computing.