Multimedia Gallery
Nanoscale photonic circuit
Careening through hairpin turns and racing down straightaways, light packets called photons travel the distance in this nanoscale photonic circuit.
More about this image
By embedding lasers a few nanometers in diameter in silicon, developers can fabricate circuits using techniques already in place in the chip-making industry. Ultra-small devices that harness light, such as these, offer the possibility of transmitting data and manipulating very large numbers at speeds and capacities that electronic devices can’t achieve. (Date image taken: September 2015; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: Dec. 16, 2016)
Credit: Stefan Preble, Rochester Institute of Technology
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