Stanford Research Aims To Speed Optical Networks

Researchers at Stanford University have created a device that could lead to much faster optical networking that is also significantly less expensive than today’s technologies. The device, called a modulator or solid-state shutter, is made from silicon and germanium, two materials that are compatible with current technologies and are not nearly as costly as the materials found in today’s optical networking hardware.

Researchers demonstrated that the device is able to turn a beam of light on and off 100 billion times per second, a speed that is equivalent to 10 times that of existing optical networks. David A. B.

Miller, director of the Solid State and Photonics Laboratory at Stanford, noted that the new technology could solve “the bottlenecks of wiring,” which, he said, are the primary reason that processor speeds have not improved substantially in the past few years. James S. Harris, an electrical engineering professor involved in the research, conceded that the group was surprised by the result. “No one thought it would work,” he said.

New York Times, 27 October 2005 (registration req’d)