Pushing the limits of current photonic technology to the extreme, IBM announces the possibilities of putting a supercomputer into the size of a note-book. IBM for the same, will use an integrated ultra-compact nanophotonic circuits for manipulating the light signals, the same process that a computer chip uses to manipulate electrical signals.
Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulator, a process that can convert electrical signals into a series of light pulses, is 1,000 times smaller than previous ones, which makes it possible to integrate complete optical networks onto single PC processors. Further, these supercomputers on-a-chip could use the same energy as a light bulb, making it most energy efficient business, which has been in the eyes of every chip maker.
Nanophotonics use tiny optical fibers that can transmit data between cores of a CPU up to 100 times faster in comparison to wires and that too using only one-tenth the power. It’s not only IBM, but Intel’s latest 45nm Penrym, also did some work on silicon photonics.
IBM itself tried to fight out a major problem in micro-chip world called current leakage, when it introduced its High-k metal gates earlier this year. However, now IBM seems to hit the real solution better than anybody in the same field. IBM believes nanophotonic technology can be incorporated into CPUs within ten to twelve years from now.
Via: Tech
