Martina Chirilus-Bruckner Mathematical Institute
Solving the equation to trap light Keeping light trapped in a nanostructure. If we achieve that, we are an important step closer to building an optical computer. Martina ChirilusBruckner devotes herself to the analysis of partial differential equations and focuses, in particular, on solving one such equation that models light waves in a nanostructure. By Arnout Jaspers
Mathematician Martina Chirilus-Bruckner came to the Netherlands in 2009, as a post-doc at the CWI. After working in the US and Australia, she returned in 2014 to become assistant professor at the Mathematical Institute in Leiden.
Light never stops. Even in glass, it travels at 200.000 km/h. So, in a hypothetical all-optical computer, how would you store information? It was already anticipated on that periodic nanostructures could act as ‘semi-conductors for light’. ChirilusBruckner’s research indicates that even fully localized standing light waves - so-called breathers - could ‘live’ inside s pecifically designed nanostructures. This would mean that photons, bits of light, can be trapped in tiny glass ‘cages’, like bits on a computer chip. “Doing research feels like a journey through the equations,” she says. To her, the mathematical world has a reality of its own. “I’m inspired, but not confined by worries about ‘Is this physical or not?’ I just play with the equations, hoping to find what turns out to be physical.” ‘Her’ equation is related to the famous Maxwell’s Equations. These describe electric and magnetic fields in time and space, including light, which is an electromagnetic wave. Although discovered more than 150 years ago, these equations still have not revealed all their secrets. In some sense, a ‘breather’ wave is like the vibration in a guitar string; a wave that ‘waves’ but does not go anywhere. However, in a guitar, the ends of the string don’t move because they are fixed. But can you tie down light? In mathematical terms: a certain partial differential equation must be found, such that breather solutions exist. Chirilus-Bruckner and her collaborators used a novel combination of two fields of mathe matics - invariant manifold and inverse spectral theory - to solve such a problem. “I get ideas and inspiration for my mathematical research from people who are involved in the physical realization of such structures,” she says. She keeps in touch with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Boston University and with a group at the ETH Zürich who builds similar structures. She also hopes to find research partners in photonics in Leiden.