Researchers at Stanford University developed a fingertip-sized optical amplifier that boosts light signals by 100× while consuming only a few hundred milliwatts of power. Energy-efficient and small enough to fit in a smartphone, an optical amplifier developed at Stanford could improve fiber optic networks and spur new technologies in biosensing, data communications, and more. Our semiconductor optical amplifiers (BOAs or SOAs) are available as benchtop systems, as well as high-speed amplifier instruments with built-in. Stanford physicists recently found a way to make that light work even harder with an optical amplifier that requires low amounts of energy without any loss of bandwidth, all on a device the size of a fingertip. By recycling energy inside a looping resonator, the device achieves strong amplification with minimal noise and wide bandwidth.
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