Intel Researchers Build Laser on Chip

Victor Ramen writes "Working with the basic material of computer chips, Intel Corp. researchers have constructed an all-silicon laser that could lead to computers one day harnessing light waves rather than electrical currents to shuttle data swiftly. 'Once you have silicon as an optical material, then you can take advantage of this enormous (silicon) infrastructure that exists around the world,' said Mario Paniccia, director of Intel's photonics lab. 'You can imagine starting to siliconize photonic devices, and maybe integrate photonics and electronics.'"

Comments

Fascinating stuff:

[Anonymous Coward]

To grasp the significance of this, think of the difference between electrical and electronic devices.

Current photonic devices are at the same technological level as electric devices were before the invention of the integrated circuit and the "electronic" revolution occured.

If we're about to see an analog of the "electronic" revolution, but this time using photons instead of electrons, it's going to be absolutely amazing - and its effect will be as unpredictable as the effects of the electronic revolution (computers, the internet, and other radical consequences of the information age) were.

Fascinating times ahead.