IBM Researchers Create Device Which Uses Light for Communication Between Computer Chips

IBM scientists unveiled a significant step towards replacing electrical signals that communicate via copper wires between computer chips with tiny silicon circuits that communicate using pulses of light. As reported in the recent issue of the scientific journal Nature, this is an important advancement in changing the way computer chips talk to each other.

The device, called a nanophotonic avalanche photodetector, is the fastest of its kind and could enable breakthroughs in energy-efficient computing that can have significant implications for the future of electronics.

The IBM device explores the avalanche effect in Germanium, a material currently used in production of microprocessor chips. Analogous to a snow avalanche on a steep mountain slope, an incoming light pulse initially frees just a few charge carriers which in turn free others until the original signal is amplified many times. Conventional avalanche photodetectors are not able to detect fast optical signals because the avalanche builds slowly.

The avalanche photodetector demonstrated by IBM is the worlds fastest device of its kind. It can receive optical information signals at 40Gbps (billion bits per second) and simultaneously multiply them tenfold. Moreover, the device operates with just a 1.5V voltage supply, 20 times smaller than previous demonstrations. Thus many of these tiny communication devices could potentially be powered by just a small AA-size battery, while traditional avalanche photodetectors require 20-30V power supplies.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• nanophotonics
• IBM

[Wormtail81]

Light computers, here we come!

[soylentgreenb]

In a normal kind of chip the signal can only change once each clock. If you have a 2.4 GHz processor each wire can carry 2.4 Gbps. The biggest problem is not the throughput, you can just use more wires, it is the latency(it takes 1 clock to transmit a signal 1 mm across the surface of the chip!) and the power consumption.

The motherboard is a bit different. It uses a low clock frequency to save power but the data is sent at double or quadrupple rate.

[SuperDogbrown]

interesting video and very informative

[sangolt88]

I'm probably dead by the time this shit hits the mainstream.

[ikoronduka]

Would the whole idea of a resonant circuit be obsolete. also wont computers like that be easily tampered with. One short Em pulse you fry the whole thing. This wont be useful in space travel because of time dilation. The light signals would be red shifted. Also in space a space station with soo much gravitational force on it wont the signals be scrambled. The idea is sound but too much problems with it. Correct me if i am wrong

[eriksanabria]

hello, where can I download the paper you mention at the beginning of the video? thanks

[Paganel75]

@sajabz2007 : You already do. The computing power of any iPhone or Android device on the market is slightly better for many operations that what was available on a Cray some decades ago.

[Paganel75]

@fuunguus : Visible light ranges from 380 nm to 780 nm. Do not expect anything smaller to be able to use it.

[Paganel75]

Might be interesting for light computing ;-)

[rawfeed]

kick-ass"Butt". :P

[dgessence]

Brought to you by Ethiopian scientist Dr. Solomon Assefa

[pmspjn]

Excellent,..Another good innovation from Big blue IBM