A tiny switch could redirect light between computer chips in mere nanoseconds

[ENTERPRISE]

Microscopic switches that route light signals between computer chips like tiny traffic conductors could help make faster, more efficient electronics.

 

Light waves can carry information more easily than the electric current used in traditional circuitry, because particles of light called photons zip through materials without interacting with their surroundings as much as electrons. But so far, mechanical switches designed to manipulate such data-carrying light waves have run relatively slowly and required impractically high electric voltages to work.

 

Now, newly designed switches redirect light in less than a millionth of a second using just about one volt of electricity — comparable to the voltages used in ordinary electronics, researchers report in the Nov. 15 Science. Electronics outfitted with the new switch design to process data with light rather than electricity could help self-driving cars scan their surroundings for traffic and pedestrians or read out information from quantum computers.

 

Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tiny-switch-redirects-light-between-computer-chips-nanoseconds

 

Interesting Read. Imagine if they were able to replace silicon pathways with light pathways and intelligent switches in order to re-direct data traffic, certainly would give us a leap and help towards the quantum computing.