Taken from ZDNet:

“The device, a photonic integrated circuit, could overcome the gridlock that occurs when information travelling along optical fibres at the speed of light has to be processed by slow, old-fashioned electronic components. This would make almost instantaneous, error-free and unlimited access to the internet possible anywhere in the world, Professor Eggleton said. The market would ultimately decide which technologies were introduced to meet the skyrocketing demand for faster and cheaper downloads.”

“This is a critical building block and a fundamental advance on what is already out there. We are talking about networks that are potentially up to 100 times faster without costing the consumer any more”

Now I dare you to understand the following:

“Chalcogenide glasses combine a large optical nonlinearity with strong photosensitivity, making them ideal for studying nonlinear photonic effects. Chalcogenide glass photonic crystals are fabricated at the ANU by milling holes in chalcogenide glass films using a focused ion beam. We characterise these structures by measuring transmission and reflection versus incident angle and wavelength.”

This technology will be available in 5 years and possibly be implemented first in Japan.

SOURCE

Thanks Taymoor.

 

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 2:23 am