The light barrier could soon be zapped for silicon chips thanks to new research by computer giant Intel.
Scientists at Intel reckon they should soon be able to use silicon to generate and amplify laser light with products exploiting the breakthrough by the end of the decade.
Writing in the journal Nature, Dr Paniccia and colleagues Haisheng Rong, Richard Jones, Ansheng Liu, Oded Cohen, Dani Hak and Alexander Fang show how they have made a continuous laser from the same material used to make computer processors.
Telecommunications equipment that amplifies the laser light that travels down fibre optic cables is very expensive because they require exotic materials but all that is set to change Dr Paniccia said.
Their research enables telecommunications firms and chip makers to use silicon, which is cheap and suitable for high-volume manufacturing, for these light-moving elements.
Silicon is a much better amplifier of light pulses than the form of the material used in fibre optic cables.
Dr Paniccia said that they have worked out a technique to suck up errant troublesome electrons that disrupt the ability of silicon to generate and amplify laser light.
The new method also allows laser light that can be tuned across a very wide range of frequencies.
Andrew Zilouf
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