FreeLists / networknewsletters / IBM slows light, readies it for networking

[Educational CyberPlayGround <admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

**************************************************************
Network Newsletters Mailing List ©1994
Subscribe - Unsubscribe - Email Preferences
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/NetworkNewsletters.html

Educational CyberPlayGround Community Mailing Lists 
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/
Advertise Network Newsletters Guidlines
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/Subguidelines.html
**************************************************************

*********************************************************************
Women In Science

Special Edition
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Teachers/womenspecialedition.html

Changing Girls' Attitudes About Computers
Computer Wonder Women
National Women's History Month
What you can do to help GRRLS get into technology!
Best Online Resources For Women and Minorities in Science and Technology
Educating Girls in the New Computer Age
HERSTORIES Classroom Project
*********************************************************************

IBM slows light, readies it for networking
By Michael Kanellos
URL: <http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-5928541.html>
IBM has created a chip that can slow down light, the latest advance
in an industrywide effort to develop computers that will use only a
fraction of the energy of today's machines.
The chip, called a photonic silicon waveguide, is a piece of silicon
dotted with arrays of tiny holes. Scattered systematically by the
holes, light shown on the chip slows down to 1/300th of its ordinary
speed of 186,000 miles per second. In a computer system, slower light
pulses could carry data rapidly, but in an orderly fashion. The light
can be further slowed by applying an electric field to the waveguide.
Researchers at Harvard University and the University of California,
Berkeley, have slowed light in laboratories. IBM, though, claims that
its light-slowing device is the first to be fashioned out of fairly
standard materials, potentially paving the way toward commercial
adoption.
A number of companies and university researchers are currently
tinkering with ways to replace the electronic components inside
computers, which ferry signals with electrons, with optical
technology. Optical equipment ferries data on photons, the smallest
measure of light. Photons are far faster. More important, optical
equipment generates less heat, curbing the growing problem of heat
and power consumption.
The catch, however, is that until recently, creating optical
components has been more of an art than a science. The components
cost a lot to make and can't be cranked out in the millions like
silicon chips. Another factor: Optical parts are typically big,
unlike silicon chips, which measure only a few millimeters on a side.
Progress in blending the best of both technologies is advancing
rapidly, however. Intel has demonstrated a Raman laser fashioned from
silicon. Intel and start-up Luxtera have shown off silicon
modulators, which chop up the light from a laser so that it can
represent data.
<snip>

<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>
Copyright statements to be included when reproducing
annotations from Network Newsletters

The single phrase below is the copyright notice to be used when
reproducing any portion of this report, in any format:
> EDUCATIONAL CYBERPLAYGROUND 
> http://www.edu-cyberpg.com
> Network Newsletters copyright
> http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/NetworkNewsletters.html

FREE EDUCATION VENDOR DIRECTORY LISTING
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Directory/

HOT LIST REGISTRY OF K12 SCHOOLS ONLINE
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Schools/
<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>