Photonics set to revolutionise the revolution

2004 Just as the transistor and microelectronics transformed communications and human society in the 20th century, "light" transistors and microphotonics are about to revolutionise the way we communicate in the 21st century. We are on the verge of a new revolution in computing and communications thanks to the breakthrough advances by a Sydney based research team led by Professor Benjamin Eggleton.

A Federation Fellow and Research Director of the CUDOS Centre for Ultra-high bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems, Professor Eggleton recently received the prestigious 2004 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year for his pioneering work in the field of optical physics and photonics.

Optical fibres carry gigabytes of data across oceans and to our streets, hospitals, schools and businesses.

Professor Eggleton believes that optical devices are going to do much more in the future. The challenge, he says, is to clear the bottlenecks caused by slower electronic circuits, which is where his latest invention - 'photonic wire' - comes in.

Photonic wire guides lightbeams in the same way that copper wires guide electrical signals.

The advance paves the way for a wholesale revolution in computing, dramatically boosting the speed and efficiency of communications networks and the internal circuitry of future microchips.

Massive amounts of information will be able to be delivered instantaneously whilst reducing both power consumption and heat generation. Real time 3D telesurgery in hospitals, high definition cinema on demand via cable, virtual telepresencing for personal and business use, and even cheap but superfast disposable computers could be just around the corner thanks to photonic wire.

"This is the Holy Grail of communications," says Professor Eggleton. "We're constructing the building blocks. It's ultimately about a realisation of an all-optical world - replacing racks of machines with optical chips... (and) if you get rid of all the electronics between chips, you've got no heat, very little power consumption and you've got no need for banks of air conditioners [to keep computers from overheating].

Eventually you can use photonic wires between the processors themselves, allowing massive amounts of data to be sent and processed."

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