Silicon chip works on the speed of light
November 3, 2005 | Source: NewScientist.com News Service
A silicon chip that can carry light and even slow it down by a factor of 300 has been unveiled by IBM researchers in the US.
The idea is that such a device could synchronise data streams by slowing some streams, allowing others to catch up.
The chip demonstrates some of the essential techniques for creating high-speed photonic memory, which many researchers believe will one day make electronic memory obsolete in optical communications networks.