IBM scientists have created a tiny device that could lead to the use of photons to replace electrons for component connection. Researchers at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, have also slowed light in laboratories. IBM, though, claims that its light-slowing device is the first to be fashioned out of fairly standard materials, potentially paving the way toward commercial adoption.

Scientists have slowed light down to less than one-three-hundredth its usual speed by directing it down a channel of perforated silicon photonic crystal waveguide. The device allows the light's speed to be varied over a wide range by applying an electrical voltage to the waveguide, IBM explained.

Using a photonic crystal waveguide - a thin slab of silicon punctuated by regular arrays of holes that scatter light, the IBM team has slowed light. The pattern and size of the holes gives the material a very high refractive index - the higher the refractive index, the slower the light.

The device's small size, use of standard semiconductor materials, and ability to more closely control this "slow light" could make the technology useful for building ultra-compact optical communications circuits that are practical for integration into computer systems.

The manufacturing process used to build the device is available in nearly any semiconductor factory and could be applied to create a variety of nanophotonic components such as optical delay lines, optical buffers, and even optical memory.

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