Wednesday, 20th September 2006 (4255 views)

Researchers in the US have come up with a way of using gold nanorods as switches in nanophotonic devices, which control the light flow in optical circuits.

The Royal Society of Chemistry reports that the scientists from the University of Chicago coated gold nanorods with silver selenide or silver sulphide. The thickness of this layer changed the particles' resonance frequency, providing an "on-off" switch effect.

The tiny nanorods have a frequency that can be altered from 600 nanometres to 2,000 nanometres – in other words, from visible light to infrared light.

According to Greg Hartland of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, "to produce metal nanorods with a uniform and controlled semiconductor coating is a significant synthetic achievement which may lead to the development of new devices."

Gold nanorods could also be used to detect and kill cancer cells. They can find malignant tumours in the body and bind to them by way of a cancer antibody. Because of the gold, the cancer cells scatter light and make them easily visible.

 

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