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Production of Photon Processors Expected in 2006
ThinSkin writes "Photon processors that transmit data via light, not electrons, are slated to enter production in mid-2006, ExtremeTech reports. Headed by a UCLA professor and a Nobel Prize winner, startup Luxtera claims that its optical modulator clocks in at 10-GHz, tens times that of Intel's optical modulator researchers talked about last year. Since the optical module exists as its own entity, it will require a standard CMOS processes to integrate the optical waveguides. Luxtera has worked closely with Freescale Semiconductor to develop this technology."
It's high bandwidth (10Gbit/sec) small scale (130nm) modulation from CMOS to optical. This is not "processing" in the sense of optical logic.
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
No offense, but we're more likely to see this kind of technology being used to make movies before video games. Hear me out.
When newer processor technologies are developed, they're almost always deligated to server processors before they trickle down to desktop processors. (Of course, there are exceptions: MMX and its spawn, etc).
br. I can't wait to see Pixar pick up the Apple Xserves based on an optical interconnected chip. The movies they'd makewould only get more spectacular.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush