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Photonic switch boosts optical networking
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17/03/2008
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IBM researchers have built what is said to be the world’s tiniest nanophotonic switch. The move is said to represent important progress in attempts to speed chip performance whilst decreasing energy consumption.
The IBM team demonstrated several critical characteristics for the switch which make it suited to on chip applications. First, the switch is compact; 2000 of them are said to fit side by side in an area of 1mm2. Second, the device can route large amounts of data using different wavelengths of light. Each wavelength is said to carr data at up to 40Gbit/s, making it possible to switch an aggregate bandwidth in excess of 1Tbit/s. Finally, the scientists showed their optical switch can operate within a realistic on chip environment. The researchers say tolerance to temperature drift is one of the most critical requirements for on-chip optical networks.
“This new development is a critical addition in the quest to build an on chip optical network,” said Yurii Vlasov, manager of silicon nanophotonics at IBM’s TJ Watson Research Center. “In view of all the progress that this field has seen for the last few years it looks that our vision for on chip optical networks is becoming more and more realistic”.
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Author
Graham Pitcher
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