David Nino

Intel unveils laser breakthrough

Intel has unveiled research that could mean data is soon being moved around chips at the speed of light.
Scientists at Intel have overcome a fundamental problem that before now has prevented silicon being used to generate and amplify laser light.
The breakthrough should make it easier to interconnect data networks with the chips that process the information.
The Intel researchers said products exploiting the breakthrough should appear by the end of the decade.
"We've overcome a fundamental limit," said Dr Mario Paniccia, director of Intel's photonics technology lab.
Writing in the journal Nature, Dr Paniccia and colleagues Haisheng Rong, Richard Jones, Ansheng Liu, Oded Cohen, Dani Hak and Alexander Fang show how they have made a continuous laser from the same material used to make computer processors.
Currently, said Dr Paniccia, telecommunications equipment that amplifies the laser light that travels down fibre optic cables is very expensive because of the exotic materials, such as gallium arsenide, used to make it.

posted by David Nino at 9:49 AM