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Tomsk develops boards for PC, where light will work instead of electrons

TOMSK, November 26. / Scientists of Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics /TUSUR/ found the technology to create computers, in which the signal will not be transmitted by electricity but by light, the press service of the University reported today.

“The research conducted in TUSUR helps the scientists to create miniature non-volatile elements of light beams control, in fact, the element base, which then may be used for data processing and transfer in optical computers. And it should be done with less energy loss and greater speed compared to modern electronics”, - noted the University.

Scientists who are working on the problem of control of light beams in crystals, found a way using a laser to record information in the lithium niobate crystals as they have the required properties. It succeeded due to the fact that the experts combined photorefractive effect /when the beam is deflected inside the crystal under certain conditions at the desired angle/ and pyroelectric effect /when the electric field appears in the crystal under a certain influence /.

As the result, researchers get crystals with photon structure created by light - a network of tracks-waveguides with a diameter of several microns, by which the signal light is transmitted later on. "Such crystals with recorded waveguide-optical structures can be compared with printed boards that are used in modern electronics", - the press service said.

Now scientists have developed an experimental unit, and they plan to get a patent by 2016.