First Germanium Laser Hopes to Boost Processors

[Tech_Junkie]

Looks like the new Germanium Lasers may boost your PC and data transition in general.

MIT Creates First Germanium Laser, Hopes to Boost Processors | Korea IT Times

MIT: New germanium laser better for computing | Deep Tech - CNET News

Too bad 1594nm wouldn't make a great pointer. :yabbem:

 

[Deleted member 8382]

I see a very long way until anything like the things they're talking about happen xD

 

[Greenmechanic]

I see a very long way until anything like the things they're talking about happen xD

Yes, I agree with Albert. I have read about different data storage technology's for years.
None seem to emerge, except larger magnetic drives.
I remember about 7 years or so ago, I had a 100 Gb HD
Everyone was "100 Gb, holy s#it,what do you need with all that storage?"
Today that seems very low. I have >400Gb in home video alone. My 1 Tb drive is getting full fast. LOL
But any day a new technology could emerge and out date Mag. storage. If they could make it crash proof would be a big selling point. I'd pay 2X the money if I didn't have to worry about backing up everything to external HD's or SD cards.

 

[ElektroFreak]

The inability to fab the laser source along with the rest of the chip has been a huge obstacle to optical computing development. That's what the big deal is here.. By making the laser source out of Germanium it is possible to use the same processes currently used to make chips, which means the laser sources can be fabricated right on the die. As I understand the current state of this technology, light would only be used to carry data from one section of the processor to the next. The logic functions would still be performed electronically using the same basic circuits we use today. As the fab processes shrink, the biggest bottleneck to processor performance is the length of the tiny wires that transfer the data from section to section on the processor. At high speeds with today's tiny transistors even these short lengths introduces delays. Optical technology would go a long way towards eliminating that bottleneck.