Gearfuse Technology, Science, Culture & More
Researchers from the UK are working on creating a computer that runs off of light, rather than electricity. The research project at the University of Bath is focused around the creation of attosecond technology, which refers to continuous pulsing light that lasts for the extremely short period of time of a billion-billionth second. Researchers are determined to learn how to manipulate photons the way a computer uses and controls electrical fields.
Because of the ever shrinking size of silicon chips, in order to give computers an extra boost of energy, new techniques of running required hardware is needed to operate the computer. “Harnessing optical waves would represent a huge step, perhaps the definitive one, in establishing the photonics era,” says Dr. Benabid of the Department of Physics at Bath, “Since the development of the laser, a major goal in science and technology has been to emulate the breakthroughs of electronics by using optical waves. We feel this project could be a big step in this.” — Andrew Dobrow
