Programmable photonic chip could unlock light-speed optical computing
We want faster and faster computers, and light is the fastest thing in the universe. Therefore, light-based computers should be awesome. Right? Not quite. Computing isn't always about data arriving fast. Sometimes it's about arriving on cue. We have learned how to force light to calm down, but today’s hardware matches a specific design to a specific speed. But how do we command light to arrive faster or slower, using the same hardware?
Researchers at Seoul National University and the University of Seoul have developed a programmable photonic circuit architecture that can dynamically control how long light pulses take to travel through a chip, effectively controlling their arrival time. Rather than having a fixed delay determined when the device is manufactured, the proposed system can be reconfigured to alter the delay, transmission bandwidth, and even frequency characteristics of an optical signal, hence the “programmable” description.
The researchers say the technology,...
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