ABSTRACT
Many novel methodologies have recently been developed for nanoscale science and engineering. Advances in nanotechnology have a strong impact on various fields of research; for example, materials, processing,measurement,andfabrication.Photonics-basedmethodsaresurelypromising,andalot ofefforthasbeenmadetoutilizethesuperiorpropertiesofphotonics,suchasthecapabilityinmakinginteractionwithvariousmaterials.Oneofthemostexcitingapproachesisnanophotonics,which isbasedonnear-fieldoptics,nonlinearoptics,plasmonics,andotherinterestingphenomenarelating tolight.1,2 ™e essential idea of nanophotonics is the confinement of light into a nanoscale volume to achievetheresolutionoftheorderofananometer.™eapplicationsofnanophotonicsincludemolecular orbio-sensingbyuseofnanoscaleprobes,fine-structurefabrication,andvariousimagingbysurface plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy.3-8
Nanoscale science and technology should also be combined with information technology. It is certain thatthenano-worldcontainsmuchinformationandthattheeffectiveuseoftheinformationpromotes revolutionarychangesinahuman’slife,asinformationtechnologyhasledtomanytechnicalinnovationssofar.Natureoffersavarietyofmattersandphenomenathatgiveushintsforrealizinghighperformanceinformationtechnology.Informationtechnologyinspiredbynature,whichisreferredto asnaturalcomputing,isactivelystudiedandisexpectedtobeeffectivefornanoscaleinformationtechnologyduetoitspotential.Atypicalexampleofnaturalcomputingisinformationphotonics,including theideaofopticalcomputing.Informationphotonicsisaparadigmformanipulatinginformationbased ontheeffectiveuseofphotonics,o®encombinedwithelectronics,biotechnology,andsoon.9,10 Various interestingtechniquesandsystemshavebeenproposedrelatingto,forexample,opticalinterconnection,
20.1 Introduction: Nanoscale Information Technology Using Photonics ..........................................................................................20-1
20.2Photonic DNA Computing............................................................20-2 20.3Parallel Optical Tweezers for Manipulating DNA Clusters .....20-4 20.4Photonic Control of DNA Molecules in Local Volumes ..........20-7 20.5 Addressing by Use of Repeated Hairpin DNA for Memory.... 20-10 20.6Summary ........................................................................................20-13 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................20-14 References ..................................................................................................20-14
mationphotonicsresearchareexpectedtobeappliedtodevelopnanoscaleinformationtechnology usingphotonics.However,thediffractionlimitoflight,bywhichthespotsizeisrestrictedastypicallyaroundμmforvisiblelight,preventsthestraightforwarduseofphotonicsatthenanoscalelevel. Althoughthisrestrictioncanbeovercomewithnanophotonics,itisgenerallydifficulttoutilizethe spatialparallelismofphotonicseffectively.Somenewideasarenecessarytodevelopvaluablenanoscale informationtechnologybytheuseofphotonics;andtheutilizationofnanoscalemechanismsinnature becomes a promising solution.
