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Computing @ speed of light. New chip, millions of times faster than current machines.

M

mocoworm

Member
http://phys.org/news/2015-05-team-big-faster.html

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University of Utah engineers have taken a step forward in creating the next generation of computers and mobile devices capable of speeds millions of times faster than current machines.

The Utah engineers have developed an ultracompact beamsplitter—the smallest on record—for dividing light waves into two separate channels of information. The device brings researchers closer to producing silicon photonic chips that compute and shuttle data with light instead of electrons. Electrical and computer engineering associate professor Rajesh Menon and colleagues describe their invention today in the journal Nature Photonics.

Silicon photonics could significantly increase the power and speed of machines such as supercomputers, data center servers and the specialized computers that direct autonomous cars and drones with collision detection. Eventually, the technology could reach home computers and mobile devices and improve applications from gaming to video streaming.

"Light is the fastest thing you can use to transmit information," says Menon. "But that information has to be converted to electrons when it comes into your laptop. In that conversion, you're slowing things down. The vision is to do everything in light."

Photons of light carry information over the Internet through fiber-optic networks. But once a data stream reaches a home or office destination, the photons of light must be converted to electrons before a router or computer can handle the information. That bottleneck could be eliminated if the data stream remained as light within computer processors.

"With all light, computing can eventually be millions of times faster," says Menon.

To help do that, the U engineers created a much smaller form of a polarization beamsplitter (which looks somewhat like a barcode) on top of a silicon chip that can split guided incoming light into its two components. Before, such a beamsplitter was over 100 by 100 microns. Thanks to a new algorithm for designing the splitter, Menon's team has shrunk it to 2.4 by 2.4 microns, or one-fiftieth the width of a human hair and close to the limit of what is physically possible.

The beamsplitter would be just one of a multitude of passive devices placed on a silicon chip to direct light waves in different ways. By shrinking them down in size, researchers will be able to cram millions of these devices on a single chip.

Potential advantages go beyond processing speed. The Utah team's design would be cheap to produce because it uses existing fabrication techniques for creating silicon chips. And because photonic chips shuttle photons instead of electrons, mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets built with this technology would consume less power, have longer battery life and generate less heat than existing mobile devices.

The first supercomputers using silicon photonics—already under development at companies such as Intel and IBM—will use hybrid processors that remain partly electronic. Menon believes his beamsplitter could be used in those computers in about three years. Data centers that require faster connections between computers also could implement the technology soon, he says.
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O

OrlanisWorks

Banned
Potential advantages go beyond processing speed. The Utah team's design would be cheap to produce because it uses existing fabrication techniques for creating silicon chips. And because photonic chips shuttle photons instead of electrons, mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets built with this technology would consume less power, have longer battery life and generate less heat than existing mobile devices.
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That's what I'm talkin' boot!
 
Lightning Count

Lightning Count

Member
I just built a new computer a few months ago with a top of the line i7, this thing is literally going to blow traditional processors out of the water.

But in all seriousness, it'll be a good 2 or 3 years for the tech to develop and eventually reach a point where it is affordable to most buyers.
 
I

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
Jesus christ, technology man.

Just think about the potential applications in all aspects of life...we're well on our way to getting around the limitations of moore's law if technologies like this come to fruition in the marketplace
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
Inuhanyou said:
Jesus christ, technology man.

Just think about the potential applications in all aspects of life...we're well on our way to getting around the limitations of moore's law if technologies like this come to fruition in the marketplace
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Think of how many hotdogs we can produce a second with this baby.
 
K

KHlover

Banned
Stock market will be completely off the rails once this is market-ready. The first one to use it will make a ton of cash.
 
P

Palette Swap

Member
It will be awesome whenever this hits the market but it's been going on for quite some time. I remember writing a long memo about photonics crystals and their use in computing 15 years ago for my engineering degree. Still nice to see this moving forward.
 
P

Paertan

Member
A long time since I read about this the first time. Should also be pretty efficient. Probably many years until we see it in consumer tech though.
Didn't know they had gotten this far so maybe closer than I think. Hopefully circuit design will be pretty easy to transfer if it works like a transistor, but faster.
 
M

mclem

Member
As well as fast, won't this also be cool? Or is there still some equivalent to a resistor (or other heat generator) in this design?
 
wapplew

wapplew

Member
Most important, can Internet ping finally reduce under 1ms around the globe? Can we finally have unify global server?
 
U

Ushay

Member
I guess when this technology is released we'll get to the point where hardware are easily outstrips software, what would this mean for gaming? Significantly longer console cycles as the hardware would be very powerful (or perhaps none at all?).

Technology is truly amazing.
 
MightyKAC

MightyKAC

Member
AzaK said:
And all our security algorithms are worthless.
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Yup, first thing that came to mind. But then you realize that the moment this thing leaves the concept phase you KNOW that the military and corporate America are gonna be all over it.
 
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