A Big Win for Optical Computing, and IBM

Implications: IBM researchers have solved one of the key problems in optical computing -- how to slow down light flows long enough to store information.

This technology is basic research today, but has the potential for vast improvements in microprocessing and storage power as soon as three to five years from today.



Analysis: IBM researchers have developed a method of slowing a beam of light as it crosses a silicon chip. This technology has the potential for dramatic improvements in computing performance.

Because the speed of light (186,000 miles/second) is so high, researchers have long considered optical networking to be the way forward as we reach the limits of electrical signals on silicon. However, light travels so fast that researchers have also considered that it would be difficult or impossible to slow it down or store it long enough to be useful.

One method for adding delay to light flows is to pass them through long strands of optical fiber, where "long" often means tens to thousands of miles. The IBM researches took that concept and miniaturized it, employing a series of 100 cascaded "microring resonators" to slow down and store 10 bits of information in a space measuring 0.03 square millimeters. Essentially this method slows down light flows as they pass across silicon chips.

While it is too soon to say exactly how soon this breakthrough will be applied to products, a time frame of three to five years is realistic given timelines for past breakthroughs. Potentially, this technology could be applied both to storage and microprocessing applications -- both areas where IBM is a significant player.

It is also worth noting that this breakthrough came about through a program funded by the US DoD Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) -- the same group that once funded a massive network that became today's Internet. DARPA's "Slowing, Storing and Processing Light" program demonstrates, yet again, that basic R&D by government and industry is essential for advancing the state of technology.