New York: Led by an Indian-origin physicist, Swastik Kar, a team of researchers in the US have created novel devices that hold promise to make your computer work at the speed of light, literally.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/feb/computer-o.jpg" alt="" /> Representational pic
The devices integrate both optical and electronic signals to perform the most elementary computational operations - processing billions of computational steps to produce even the simplest outputs.
&ldquo;Imagine if every one of those steps could be made just a tiny bit more efficient with light. It would save precious nanoseconds,&rdquo; explained Swastik Kar, assistant professor of physics at Boston-based Northeastern University.
Since light is extremely fast, the new devices represent a critical breakthrough in making a faster dream computer - in which the processing is done using electrical signals and the signal transfer is done by optics - a reality.
Using graphene, a carbon-based material known for its strength and conductivity, and mechanics of carbon nanotubes, Kar and his colleague Yung Joon Jung discovered that light-induced electrical currents rise much more sharply at the intersection of carbon nanotubes and silicon - compared to the intersection of silicon and a metal as in traditional devices.
&ldquo;That sharp rise helps us design devices that can be turned on and off using light,&rdquo; Kar said.
This finding has major implications for performing computations, which, in simple terms, also rely on a series of on-off switches.
The first device, called AND-gate, requires both an electronic and an optical input to generate an output. This switch only triggers if both elements are engaged.
The second device, an OR-gate, can generate an output if either of two optical sensors is engaged.
The third device works like the front-end of a camera sensor. It consists of 250,000 miniature devices assembled over a centimetre-by-centimetre surface, said the research published in the journal Nature Photonics.

Led by Swastik Kar, a team of researchers in the US create novel devices that hold promise to make your computer work at light speed

Indian origin physicist behind devices to speed up future computers

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Led by Swastik Kar, a team of researchers in the US create novel devices that hold promise to make your computer work at light speed

Indian origin physicist behind devices to speed up future computers

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Indian origin physicist behind devices to speed up future computers

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