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Intel optical chips, the next breakthrough for Internet

Researchers at Intel claim to have designed chips that transmit data at high speeds using light instead of electrons.

This one is for all those movie buffs interested in building up a massive collection of titles over the Internet but find downloading time quite a bother.

A new technology can make it possible downloading gigbytes of data in the blink of an eye. On Wednesday, Intel unveiled a laser modulator that transmits data at high speeds using light instead of electrons.

The system Intel designed is made of silicon and is capable of encoding data at speeds up to 40G bits per second (bps). The new modulator, when combined with 25 hybrid silicon lasers on a single chip, could be capable of transmitting terabits of data per second, claims Ansheng Liu, principal engineer at Intel’s Corporate Technology Group.

The device is still a lab sample, but once it becomes commercially viable, high-speed optical interconnects for computers are not far off.

[ Via gizmodo ] [ Via blogs.intel ]