State-changeable device

1. A state-changeable device comprising:

a first and a second particle; and

a coupling material between the first and the second particle; wherein,

the first and the second particle are adapted to provide a charge carrier distribution such that surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) occur;

the coupling material is adapted to exhibit a variable conductivity in response to a trigger signal for changing an electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle; and

the first and the second particle are arranged in proximity to each other such that a first SPP configuration corresponds to a first electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle, and a second SPP configuration corresponds to a second electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle.

2. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the trigger signal is selected from the group consisting of: electromagnetic radiation, light, visible light, ultraviolet light, infrared radiation, an electric field, a magnetic field, an electromagnetic field, in particular a time-varying field, and combinations thereof.

3. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material is adapted to be reversibly changed from an insulating state into a conducting state by the trigger signal.

4. The state-changeable device of claim 3 , wherein the insulating state can be induced by a trigger signal or irradiation of switching light having a first switching frequency and/or the conducting state can be induced by irradiation of switching light having a second switching frequency.

5. The state-changeable device of claim 4 , wherein the first and the second particle are adapted such that an SPP resonance frequency corresponding to the second SPP configuration has a predetermined distance to the first and/or second switching frequency.

6. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein switching light as the trigger signal corresponds to wavelengths, which are longer than the dimensions of the first and second particles.

7. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material is part of a functionalized coating of the first and/or second particle.

8. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material includes ligands that are adapted to form a charge coupling between the first and the second particle in response to the trigger signal.

9. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material is photochromic.

10. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the particles are nanoparticles having a diameter between 1 nm and 100 nm.

11. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the particles are metallic particles or semiconducting particles.

12. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein a distance between the particles is between 1 nm and 10 μm.

13. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , further comprising additional particles for forming a plurality of particles wherein the plurality of particles is adapted to provide a charge carrier distribution such that surface plasmon polaritons occur.

14. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the particles are selected from the group consisting of: gold (Au), silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), and combinations thereof.

15. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling are selected from the group consisting of: diarylethene, an oxide material, redox-active molecules, a dielectric material, and combinations thereof.

16. The state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein the coupling material couples the first and the second particle mechanically.

17. A memory device comprising:

at least one state-changeable device of claim 1 , wherein a first memory state is assigned to the first SPP configuration; and

a second memory state is assigned to the second SPP configuration.

18. The memory device of claim 17 , further comprising a first and a second optical waveguide for irradiating light to the state-changeable device, wherein the state-changeable device is arranged between the first and a second optical waveguide.

19. A switching device comprising at least one state-changeable device of claim 1 , further comprising a first and a second plasmonic waveguide coupled to the state-changeable device.

20. The switching device of claim 19 , further comprising a first and a second optical waveguide, wherein the first plasmonic waveguide is coupled to the first optical waveguide, and the second plasmonic waveguide is coupled to the second optical waveguide.

21. A method for storing a memory state comprising:

providing a first and a second particle arranged in proximity to each other;

electro-optically coupling the first and the second particle through a coupling material, wherein

the particles are adapted to provide a charge carrier distribution such that surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) occur; and wherein the coupling material is adapted to exhibit a variable conductivity in response to a trigger signal;

the particles are arranged such that a first SPP configuration corresponds to a first electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle and a second SPP configuration corresponds to a second electro-optical coupling between the first and the second particle;

assigning a first memory state to the first SPP configuration; and

assigning a second memory state to the second SPP configuration.