Optical computing takes a major step forward

Just in time to help transfer the increasing flood of data over the internet and within circuitry comes the beginning of practical optical computing, brought to you by MIT...

MIT team details optics-on-a-chip device
















"...Fiber-optic networks transmit massive amounts of information quickly, but the signals weaken as the data-carrying light travels long distances. Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said they've overcome a major obstacle in harnessing the full power and speed of the light waves..."

"...They're also trumpeting the innovative method they devised to integrate the optical circuitry with electronic circuitry on the same silicon chip..."

"...It's a big step forward - no one was able to do this before in a way that is manufacturable and takes advantage of the manufacturability of silicon technology," said Erich Ippen, an MIT electrical engineering and physics professor and one of the study's co-authors..."