Scientists Embed Electronic Components Into Optical Fibers

Posted by Soulskill on Monday February 6, 2012 @09:32AM from the photons-and-electrons-living-together dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Scientists at the Universities of Southampton and Penn State have found a way to embed electronic components into optical fibers, in a breakthrough that could lead to the creation of super high-speed telecommunications networks. Rather than trying to merge flat chips with round optical fibers, the team of scientists used high-pressure chemistry techniques to deposit semiconducting materials layer by layer directly into tiny holes in optical fibers. This bypasses the need to integrate fiber-optics onto a chip, and means that the data signal never has to leave the fiber."

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Light Search by RobinEggs · 2012-02-06 10:05 · Score: -1, Troll

Well, at least the network cables at Penn State can be made of something transparent, fault-tolerant, and ethical...ok, ethical didn't fit, but I was trying to make a point. Work with me here.

I know it's slightly off-topic, but Jesus Christ...between Penn State, Indiana, and having attended UNC myself I wouldn't send my pet rat to state school, or maybe any R1 school, much less my child. Let's not let some bitchin bandwidth distract from the fact that they're a morally bankrupt institution which takes public money for its research, pumps its own money into sports, and has the overal ethical profile of a sociopathic chimpanzee.