Thinnest nanowire will make computing super fast
September 20th, 2011 - 2:37 pm ICT by IANSSydney, Sep 20 (IANS) World’s thinnest nanowires will drive computers super fast in the near future using light, a new research claims.
Nanowires will use a ‘photonic chip’ at its core to perform functions in computing and electronics.
Researchers from Swinburne University of Technology and the Australian National University engineered a nanowire thousand times thinner than a human hair in a special type of glass known as chalcogenide.
The photonic chip is the primary goal of the Centre for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), involving six universities, says doctoral student Elisa Nicoletti, who led the study.
The internet is connected by miles of optic fibre cables and electronic routers. However, these routers work at much slower speeds than the optic cables, slowing the system down, according to a Swinburne statement.
Photonic chip would solve this problem, powering ultra-fast telecom networks that transfer information at the speed of light.
The realization of the chip will rely on a range of factors, including the fabrication of extremely tiny materials and the researchers’ ability to harness a unique optical property known as the ‘non-linear effect’.
Chalcogenide exhibits non-linearity, which means its optical density changes according to the applied light intensity. Simply told, it can handle the passage of greater or lesser intensity of light, without breaking down.
- Rainbow-trapping scientist opens up new possibilities for data storage - Apr 13, 2011
- Transmitting data 16 times faster @ 640 billion bits per second - Feb 03, 2009
- "Optical tweezers" to help development of advanced quantum computers - Jul 07, 2010
- Miniature lasers could open the door to new age of the Internet - Mar 16, 2011
- Boffins refine ways to generate and control "Airy beams" - Jun 18, 2010
- World's slenderest material to shape future computers - Jul 25, 2011
- Diamond-based nanowire devices advance quantum science and technology - Feb 15, 2010
- Reversal of optical Doppler shift could lead to 'invisibility cloak' - Mar 07, 2011
- New laser to make computing faster, cheaper - Jan 22, 2010
- New organic material may give Internet superfast speeds - Mar 16, 2009
- Engineers find nanolasers for faster microprocessors - Feb 07, 2011
- New switching device to help build an ultrafast quantum Internet - Mar 11, 2011
- New device could be used for ultrafast high-capacity communications - Mar 02, 2010
- Scientists design chip 20 times faster than current PCs - Dec 29, 2010
- Short, on-chip light pulses to boost data transfer speeds on computers - Nov 25, 2010
Tags: density changes, doctoral student, elisa, fibre cables, human hair, intensity of light, light intensity, linear effect, linearity, nanowire, nanowires, nicoletti, optic cables, optical density, optical property, optical systems, speed of light, swinburne university of technology, telecom networks, university of technology