The research was performed at Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source and supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Silicon promises power of light

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed a new approach to silicon devices that combines light amplification with a photovoltaic -- or solar panel -- effect. They report that not only can optical amplification in silicon be achieved with zero power consumption, but power can now be generated in the process.

The team's research shows that silicon Raman amplifiers possess nonlinear photovoltaic properties, a phenomenon related to power generation in solar cells. In 2004, the same group at UCLA's school of engineering demonstrated the first silicon laser, a device that took advantage of Raman amplification.

"After dominating the electronics industry for decades, silicon is now on the verge of becoming the material of choice for the photonics industry, the traditional stronghold of today's semiconductors," said Bahram Jalali, the UCLA engineering professor who led researcher Sasan Fathpour and graduate student Kevin Tsia in the work.