Just when you thought that technology was moving at an inconceivable pace, scientists have pushed the envelope one step further. Researchers say they have developed a low-voltage device known as an “opto-chip” that could start turning high-bandwidth dreams into realities over the next few years. In lay terms, that means that within the next few years, people could be downloading digital movies in the blink of an eye, chatting with each other over portable videophones and/or watching 3-D holographic images at advanced levels of high fidelity.
The experimental device is the fruit of nearly a decade of research that delved into new ways to convert light transmitted by fiber-optic lines into electrical signals. Larry Dalton, a chemist at the University of Washington and the University of Southern California is the individual most responsible for the modulator.
Modulators are devices that convert one type of signal into another. For example, your modem – an abbreviation for “modulator-demodulator” – translates between computer data and transmission data for phone, cable or wireless systems. This new type of electro-optic modulator is designed to link up with high-speed fiber-optic lines or satellites.
The foremost breakthrough behind the opto-chip involved engineering organic molecules called chromophores to convert light into electrical current at high efficiency. During previous attempts, the conversion rate was slowed by the tendency of molecules to get in each other’s way. However, researchers altered the chemical structure of the material to provide a kind of plastic insulation around each chromophore.
The opto-chip would require just one-twentieth of a second to download a two-hour movie in digital format. Along with that, imagine calling up your best friend or relative on your brand new videophone to catch up on life. It would be surreal to see two people interacting with each other over videophones when just a few years ago that sort of scene could only be imagined in some futuristic science fiction movie like Star Wars or Star Trek.
The devices could lead to a vast leap in cable TV transmission capacity, satellite communications, optical network switching and fiber-optic medical sensors, Dalton said. Another way that opto-chip material could be utilized is by being spray-painted onto a surface to form the basis of a phased-array radar system with no moving parts. That would open the way for cheaper and better navigation systems for aircraft, missiles and ships – which explains the Pentagon’s interest – or even an anti-collision radar system for your car.
Of course, nothing is perfect other than Allah, so there are a few catches that come along with this new technology. The main traffic jam for all that bandwidth would not be the connection itself, but rather circuitry that doesn’t move as fast as the fiber-optic flow. “If you want to do things fast, you don’t want to transmit that electrical signal through wire,” Dalton said. However, he believes this issue is not one that can’t be repaired, stating that scientists should eventually be able to find a way to speed up processors in order to take advantage of the opto-chips.
Another snag has to do with the economics of the electronics industry. The organic material can be sprayed onto a computer chip or another type of surface like paint at a marginal cost of mere pennies. Dalton said: “You can build it cheaper than microprocessors, and there are no toxic chemicals.”
However, manufacturers have devoted millions of dollars to existing technologies, thus needing a powerful incentive to switch over to a new fabrication method. The researchers argued that the opto-chip material offered the powerful incentive manufacturers were looking for not only in the higher speeds and lower voltage, but also because of lower signal loss and lower heat levels.
Sooner or later, it seems inevitable that this technology will be launched into the mainstream. The possibility of high-speed dubbing of digital videos, communicating through videophones and watching 3-D holographic images is too great of an opportunity to pass up. Who knows? In two to three years, the sweeping advances and popularity of cell phones could become obsolete.
