MSI PI Mo Li, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and members of his research group have succeeded in measuring the torque (twisting force) that is generated by light on a silicon chip. Light’s torque comes from the spin angular momentum of photons. This research is on a smaller scale than previous such measurements and has implications for such devices as miniaturized gyroscopes and torsional sensors. The paper was recently published in the journal Science Advances.
Professor Li uses MSI resources in support of his group’s work to design and fabricate nanoscale photonics devices to enable strong light-matter interaction. An article about the paper and about Professor Li’s work appears on the College of Science and Engineering website.