Computing at the speed of light

Univ. of Utah engineers have taken a step forward in creating the next generation of computers and mobile devices capable of speeds millions of times faster than current machines.

The Utah engineers have developed an ultracompact beamsplitter—the smallest on record—for dividing light waves into two separate channels of information. The device brings researchers closer to producing silicon photonic chips that compute and shuttle data with light instead of electrons. Electrical and computer engineering associate professor Rajesh Menon and colleagues describe their invention in Nature Photonics.

Silicon photonics could significantly increase the power and speed of machines such as supercomputers, data center servers and the specialized computers that direct autonomous cars and drones with collision detection. Eventually, the technology could reach home computers and mobile devices and improve applications from gaming to video streaming.

Chinese Awards Part 2

Tim Studt here again, and mostly recovered from my day-long travel on Friday. Hot and humid here in Taipei, about 25 F warmer than in Chicago.

Today's judging at the Taiwan Excellence Awards covered healthcare-based tablet computers, electronic memory modules, top-end gaming computers, electric scooters, racing bicycles and even off-road mountain racing bike tires. All of these are state-of-the-art systems and market leaders in their respective industries with number one or two market shares.

The other judges are experts in quality, design and marketing assembled mostly in pairs. My R&D counterpart is the President of the Industrial Research Technology Institute (ITRI)—a frequent submitter and multiple winner of R&D 100 awards over the past several years. One of his R&D 100 Award winners from several years ago—flat panel electrostatic speakers—was the technology that we reviewed yesterday in the Bluetooth portable speakers.

Advances in molecular electronics

Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the Univ. of Konstanz are working on storing and processing information on the level of single molecules to create the smallest possible components that will combine autonomously to form a circuit. As recently reported in Advanced Science, the researchers can switch on the current flow through a single molecule for the first time with the help of light.

Dr. Artur Erbe, physicist at the HZDR, is convinced that in the future molecular electronics will open the door for novel and increasingly smaller—while also more energy efficient—components or sensors: "Single molecules are currently the smallest imaginable components capable of being integrated into a processor." Scientists have yet to succeed in tailoring a molecule so that it can conduct an electrical current and that this current can be selectively turned on and off like an electrical switch.