Researchers at NIST have developed a new device that can expand the diameter of a light beam by 400 times, enabling more precise measurements of atomic properties. The two-stage converter works by first widening the beam’s lateral dimension using a precisely positioned rectangular slab, and then expanding the vertical dimension with a diffraction grating. This allows the light to remain collimated and travel long distances to probe large groupings of atoms, improving measurements of quantities like time, length, and magnetic fields. The technology has potential applications in navigation, communications, and medical imaging.
Keywords: photonic chips, light beams, atomic properties, diffraction grating, collimated beam
