Posted on 12/14/2012 3:04:56 PM PST by neverdem
A discovery that promises transistors – the fundamental part of all modern electronics – controlled by laser pulses that will be 10,000 faster than today's fastest transistors has been made by a Georgia State University professor and international researchers.
Professor of Physics Mark Stockman worked with Professor Vadym Apalkov of Georgia State and a group led by Ferenc Krausz at the prestigious Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and other well-known German institutions.
There are three basic types of solids: metals, semiconductors, used in today's transistors, and insulators – also called dielectrics.
Dielectrics do not conduct electricity and get damaged or break down if too high of fields of energy are applied to them. The scientists discovered that when dielectrics were given very short and intense laser pulses, they start conducting electricity while remaining undamaged.
The fastest time a dielectric can process signals is on the order of 1 femtosecond – the same time as the light wave oscillates and millions of times faster than the second handle of a watch jumps.
Dielectric devices hold promise to allow for much faster computing than possible today with semiconductors. Such a device can work at 1 petahertz, while the processor of today's computer runs slightly faster than at 3 gigahertz.
"Now we can fundamentally have a device that works 10 thousand times faster than a transistor that can run at 100 gigahertz," Stockman said. "This is a field effect, the same type that controls a transistor. The material becomes conductive as a very high electrical field of light is applied to it, but dielectrics are 10,000 times faster than semiconductors."
The results were published online Dec. 5 in Nature. The research institutions include the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, the Department of Physics at the Munich Technical University, the Physics Department at Ludwig Maximilian University at Munich and the Fritz Haber Institute at Berlin, Germany.
At one time, scientists thought dielectrics could not be used in signal processing – breaking down when required high electric fields were applied. Instead, Stockman said, it is possible for them to work if such extreme fields are applied at a very short time.
In a second paper also published online Dec. 5 in Nature, Stockman and his fellow researchers experimented with probing optical processes in a dielectric – silica – with very short extreme ultraviolet pulses. They discovered the fastest process that can fundamentally exist in condensed matter physics, unfolding at about at 100 attoseconds – millions of times faster than the blink of an eye.
The scientists were able to show that very short, highly intense light pulses can cause on-off electric currents – necessary in computing to make the 1s and 0s needed in the binary language of computers—in dielectrics, making extremely swift processing possible.
More information: The first paper, "Optical-field-induced current in dielectrics" is available through dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11567 . The second, "Controlling dielectrics with the electric field of light," is available through dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11720 .
Journal reference: Nature
Provided by Georgia State University
Very cool...
Fastest light driven process= the interval between the light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn.
But when it goes to femtoseconds and attoseconds? I've got to count the zeros to the right of the decimal point.
/johnny
I’m going to wait to buy a new computer.
Wow - can’t wait to get my hands on one of the first petaherz PC’s! Oh, but wait... we need fiber that runs 10 million times faster.
faster than a Dem blaming mass murder on guns?
Cool. But I understand memory lag is the bigger bottleneck right now.
Cool. But I understand memory lag is the bigger bottleneck right now.
LOL I hate that guy!
That is only part of the problem. Yes, this (possibly Nobel-worthy) research indicates method of creating a very rapid detectable signal. However, there is another part of this needed: a sufficiently rapidly switched laser to create the field effect.
This is definitely distinct from “femto-second pulses” of laser light. It gets to the heart of the whole system’s design.
Yes indeed, there's a LOT of work that may be rather difficult to complete any time soon.
Yes indeed, there's a LOT of work that may be rather difficult to complete any time soon. But, it's fun to know that there is new and exciting thing to work toward in the future. There is a huge difference between the first airplanes and those of today - and, there will likely be little use for home computers like we have today and what we'll be using a the future.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
