Meta tronics..Bye bye to electronics.. ;) Optical engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have created the first computer circuit where logic is performed with light instead of electricity. Dubbed “metatronics,” this light-based logic could enable smaller, faster, and more energy efficient computer chips. The team, led by Nader Engheta, demonstrated that it’s possible to make resistors, inductors, and capacitors that act on light. By creating a chip that has a comb-like array of nanorods — tiny pillars of silicon nitride (pictured below) — the flow of light can be controlled in such a way that the “voltage” and “current” of the optical signal can be altered. By changing the height and width of the nanorods, and by altering their arrangement, different effects can be achieved. For example, if light has to pass by a short rod and then a tall rod, it might create a resistor- like effect — but a square of four short rods might act as an optical capacitor. The metatronic name comes from the fact that these nanorods are a metamaterial ; a material that has has properties that can’t be found in nature.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 03:51:50 +0000
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