Jul 23 2010
Researchers from the Philipps University, the Iowa University and the Oregon State University (OSU) have discovered a new method in which a gallium arsenide-based nanodevice can respond to terahertz pulses for short period of time.
The discovery marks a major milestone for future optical communication and computing.
According to the researchers, the gallium arsenide nanodevice can be used as a signal processor to control the electrical signals in semiconductors.
Current computer architectures are restricted by slow speed of electrons as they move through the wires. According to experts, high-speed computing lies in optics. Wireless interconnecting that operates 1000 times faster than existing technology will be the biggest technological breakthrough.
An associate professor at Oregon University, Yun-shik Lee, commented that optical communication utilizes high-speed light, but it is limited by electrical signals. However, replacing the wires with detectors and emitters, which can operate at terahertz speeds, holds the key to this problem, he informed.
Source: http://oregonstate.edu