Light stored as sound on a microchip

[Ian]

A potential breakthrough in computing has been made by Australian researchers, as they have managed to use photons to process data (rather than electrons) in a microchip - using acoustic waves from their interaction to store data for short periods.

TechSpot have a more detailed explanation:
https://www.techspot.com/news/71026-scientists-can-now-store-light-sound-waves-computer.html

The researchers needed this acoustic technology because photons move really, really fast. By converting the photons into sound waves using a "photonic microchip," they can slow down the data enough for their circuitry to actually process it.

The technology passes in various pulses of light which interact and produce minute vibrations inside the chip. This acoustic buffer allows the computer to better control the information being processed by several orders of magnitude. By passing in signals of different bandwidths at the same time, the scientists can also vastly increase the performance of the computer.

If you'd like to read the research paper, follow this link:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00717-y

 

[nivrip]

Amazing stuff.