Optics, a form of data transmission that utilizes beams of light, has the promise to outperform the beams of electrons that drive your computer or smartphone. Engineers have long sought a way to miniaturize optical technology, which is present in today's fast-paced fiber-optic cables, so they can bring the speed and efficiency of light-based data transmission to a computer chip.
But engineers at Stanford University have announced a strong theoretical limitation to what was long hoped to be a simple, promising device that would permit one-way optical data transmission on a computer chip.
Stanford electrical engineering Professor Shanhui Fan and graduate student Yu "Jerry" Shi announced their findings in a paper published in the journal Nature Photonics. In the short term, their news may be disappointing to some engineers. But both believe that their findings will guide researchers searching for ways to build a one-way street for light on a computer chip.
Fan and Shi studied a device called a nonlinear isolator, which researchers had hoped would allow information from beams of light to travel in only the "forward" direction, while prohibiting transmission in the "backward" direction. Such a device would simplify data transmission on computer chips.
"But it turns out that there is backward leakage that no one previously recognized in this class of device," said Fan.
To read more, click here.