Computers run at the speed of light coming soon

For the first time, physicists have successfully designed a "metamaterial" chip - a material that has properties that cannot be found in nature, with zero refractive index, paving the way for design. Light-powered computers are capable of transmitting information at lightning speed.

Inventing materials with zero refractive index

Light is the fastest thing that can be used to convey information, but if people want to replace existing electronic computers with light-based computers, we will have to solve a problem. basic. When information is sent to your computer or router in the form of a photon (or light particle), it must be converted into an electrical signal before being processed. This makes the transmission speed of information much reduced.

Electronic computers have now reached their limits, so scientists around the world are trying to figure out how to design computers that use light. And a team from Harvard University, USA, made a big step forward in achieving this goal by inventing a new 'metamaterial' that has a zero index of refraction , allowing We perform special operations on light on computer chips.

"This metamaterial allows us to control light from one chip to another , you can compress, bend, twist and reduce the diameter of the beam from large to nanoscale, which was before. "We have never done it. This is a breakthrough in light control," said the team leader, physicist Eric Mazur.

Metamorphic images have zero refractive index.

Made from silicon cylinders attached to a polymer mesh and surrounded by a film of gold, this new material has a refractive index of zero , allowing light particles to pass at "super-fast" speeds. does not violate physical laws, the team that developed this material said.

We all know the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second. The speed at which light travels is also measured by the speed of movement between wave peaks when light passes through a material - or phase velocity. This shows that the degree of convergence or elongation of the wavelengths of light on the material it passes through affects the light transmission rate.

For example, when light passes through water, its phase velocity decreases because the wavelengths of light converge because the water is denser than air. When light escapes from the water surface, the phase velocity increases due to the longer wavelength of light.

The degree of slowing down of light waves as it travels on a certain material is expressed through refractive index. If a material is able to interfere with the speed of transmission between wave peaks, the refractive index of this material will be high. Because water does not interfere with the speed of wave transmission, its refractive index is quite low, only about 1.3.

So what happens when we find a material with zero refractive index? When light passes through it, the peaks and bottoms are infinitely long to create a flat line and a flat wavelength that allows light to easily travel without losing energy. The industrial potential of this material from telecommunications to quantum computers - is almost limitless.

It may take some time to achieve the expected results, but the computers running at the speed of light are about to come, which means we're about to own running computers and smartphones. with a million times faster speed than the present.