Laser switched optical transistor could enable future generation of ultra fast light-based computers

摘要

It is a neat trick, but the Zurich team's work is a long way from commercially viable, says Malcolm Penn, CEO of UK electronics market researcher Future Horizons. The costs of operating at such low, cryogenic temperatures are high, he says.rnBut Moore's law, which describes how the number of components on a chip roughly doubles every two years, cannot go on forever while computing is based on silicon, he acknowledges, making any novel ideas of value.rn"In research labs, silicon chips with features just 15 nanometres wide are already misbehaving as quantum randomness makes devices depart from the way they should work," he explains, "so we need new ideas like this for sure."