Photonic chips use light to process data instead of electricity, enabling faster communication speeds and greater bandwidth. Most of that light typically stays on the chip, trapped in optical wires, and is difficult to transmit to the outside world in an efficient manner. If a lot of light could be rapidly and precisely beamed off the chip, free from the confines of the wiring, it could open the door to higher-resolution displays, smaller Lidar systems, more precise 3D printers, or larger-scale quantum computers. Their chip uses an array of microscopic structures that curl upward, resembling tiny, glowing ski jumps. The researchers can carefully control how light is emitted from thousands of these tiny structures at once. They used this new platform to project detailed, full-color images that are roughly half the size of a grain of table salt. Used in this way, the technology could aid in the development of lightweight augmented reality glasses or compact displays. 'On a chip, light...
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