“Light enters your daily experience, irrespective of background. It is associated with truth and beauty, and is central to our arts and sciences,” says Dr. Sajeev John.
John, professor of physics at U of T, spoke as part of the “Great Minds at the University of Toronto: The University Professor Lecture Series” last Wednesday. He spoke on a new class of materials called photonic band gap materials, which can trap and manipulate light in new and important ways. “Photonic band gap materials may offer a new way to control light with light,” he said.
John is a world-renowned theorist, who has done revolutionary work on light and the development of photonic crystals. He spoke on his own research, using elaborate digital animation to show how the flow of light can be steered in the same way that electricity is steered through electronic circuits. His optical microchip can process light the same way that a semiconductor processes electric current.
This new phase of light research may one day result in computers that use laser light to carry information.
Light travels at the speed of 186,000 miles per second-just imagine sending information close to that speed. His research could potentially lead to faster, cheaper, and more versatile tools for the computer and telecommunication industries. This would revolutionize information technology, including the Internet, which could potentially make life easier and more efficient.
John has been named a University Professor by U of T, the highest distinction that the faculty can bestow. Only two per cent of U of T’s professors are given this title. Further recognition came with the King Faisal International Prize in Science, the Steacie Prize, the Herzberg Medal, the Premier’s Platinum Medal for Research Excellence from the provincial government, and a senior Canada Research Chair. Many suspect that he may even receive a Nobel Prize one day, which would make him U of T’s second Nobel Laureate.
