English: Artist's impression of a silicon nanophotonic chip, used for high-speed "dual-comb" spectroscopy and detection of molecules using light. A laser beam (pump) comes in from the right end of the chip, gets transmitted through the silicon nitride waveguides (blue), and gets resonantly enhanced in power inside the rings R1 and R2. Platinum heaters (golden brown) tune the rings to match the wavelength of the pump laser. The rings generate many wavelengths (colors) of light from the single-color pump laser through nonlinear optical process. These wide range of wavelengths can then be detected on a photodiode (light blue hemisphere on the left). This entire setup is called a dual comb spectrometer, which is 10,000 times faster than conventional spectrometers, yet takes up only a fraction of a penny of space - illustrating the power of nanotechnology. A conventional spectrometer with such power would take up space equivalent to a dozen cereal boxes.

English: Artist's impression of a silicon nanophotonic chip, used for high-speed "dual-comb" spectroscopy and detection of molecules using light. A laser beam (pump) comes in from the right end of the chip, gets transmitted through the silicon nitride waveguides (blue), and gets resonantly enhanced in power inside the rings R1 and R2. Platinum heaters (golden brown) tune the rings to match the wavelength of the pump laser. The rings generate many wavelengths (colors) of light from the single-color pump laser through nonlinear optical process. These wide range of wavelengths can then be detected on a photodiode (light blue hemisphere on the left). This entire technique is called a dual comb spectrometer, which is 10,000 times faster than conventional spectrometers, yet takes up only a fraction of a dime of space - illustrating the power of nanotechnology. A conventional spectrometer with such power would take up space equivalent to a dozen cereal boxes.