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 At the speed of light
By Theo Boshoff
Chip maker Intel is again changing the way computers will work in the future, with the development of light beams to replace electrons to carry data in and around computers.
The company says it has developed the world’s first silicon-based optical data connection with integrated lasers using Hybrid Silicon Laser technology that can transfer data 50 billion bits per second (50Gbps). So how is this different? Think of it as transmitting a full HD movie in a single second.
With this experimental technology, data will be transmitted faster over longer distances with less data degradation through very light and thing optical fibres instead of the limitations imposed by current copper cables.
Intel explains how these fast data rates will impact users by saying: “Imagine a wall-sized 3D display for home entertainment and videoconferencing with a resolution so high that the actors or family members appear to be in the room with you.”
For the more technologically advanced, the explanation is that “the transmitter chip is composed of four lasers, whose light beams each travel into an optical modulator that encodes data onto them at 12.5Gbps. The four beams are then combined and output to a single optical fibre for a total data rate of 50Gbps. At the other end of the link, the receiver chip separates the four optical beams and directs them into photo detectors, which convert data back into electrical signals.”
All in all, the key thing to remember about this research and future possibilities of the technology is there will be very little waiting times when transferring data from one place to the next. Think how blissful it would be if you could do a complete backup of your laptop’s content in a mere second.
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