Scientists grow nanolasers on silicon chips, prove microscopic blinkenlights are the future

What you see above may look like a nanoscale Obelisk of Light, ready to protect the tiny forces of Nod, but that’s not it at all. It’s a nanolaser, grown directly on a field of silicon by scientists at Berkeley . The idea is to rely on light to transmit data inside of computers, rather than physical connections, but until now finding a way to generate that light on a small enough scale to work inside circuitry without damaging it has been impossible. These indium gallium arsenide nanopillars could solve that, grown on and integrated within silicon without doing harm. Once embedded they emit light at a wavelength of 950nm, as shown in the video below. [Thanks, Paul] Continue reading Scientists grow nanolasers on silicon chips, prove microscopic blinkenlights are the future Scientists grow nanolasers on silicon chips, prove microscopic blinkenlights are the future originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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