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Light-speed silicon chip
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The light-speed silicon chip is a prototype created by IBM that uses photons to transmit information at blazingly fast speeds. It appears similar to other chips currently available, but instead of a standard transfer of information through electrons, this computer chip uses light because information is delivered faster and less information is lost through the transfer. If successful, this will be the first computer capable of exascale computing (a computer that can perform a billion billion computations per second). Using this system, the amount of energy needed for the chip would be minuscule in comparison to a supercomputer. This will make it more commercially viable and IBM plans on releasing it to the public around 2018. How it works A waveguide emits eight different colored beams into several different ports of a modulator. There are many different ports so many different colors of the laser can be emitted at once. This allows many signals to be transferred concurrently. The modulator divides the beams into pulses. Then, those pulses pass through a process called wavelength-division multiplexing, where they join together at its base. Because the beams of light have different light frequencies, all of the information is retained. This now unified beam travels through the chip, with optical switches controlling the direction. After that, the process is reversed, the beams are redistributed, again traveling in eight different colors. Although this chip works primarily with light, electrons are still required to run the transistors of the computer so the light must be converted into an electrical signal. These pulses shine into a photodetector. For each photon admitted, an electron is released. Finally, the actual computations occur within the transistors. This system works much faster because unlike electrons, the process will not slow down with heat, will use less energy, and it will not lose information therefore making it much more efficient in every aspect. See Also
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