Photonic Integrated Circuit.

Overview

Scientists have developed what they claim is a small scratch on a piece of glass, which could make the internet nearly 100 times faster and give users unlimited, error-free access anywhere in the world. Lead researcher at the University of Sydney Ben Eggleton while making the announcement said, initial testing of the technology showed it was possible to achieve Internet speeds 60 times faster than the current Telstra network. But if developed further, the circuit could reach speeds 100 times faster, he added.

What is ‘The Scratch’ all about?

“The scratched glass we have developed is actually a Photonic Integrated Circuit. This circuit uses the ’scratch’ as a guide or a switching path for information – kind of like when trains are switched from one track to another – except this switch takes only one picosecond to change tracks…this means that in one second the switch is turning on and off about one million times. We are talking about photonic technology that has terabit per second capacity, we [now] use electronics for switching and that has been okay, but as we move toward a more tech-savvy future there is a demand for instant Web gratification,” Eggleton said.The University of Sydney has developed the scratch in collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark and financial support from Australian Research Council.

How it works

The new device, called ‘scratch’, uses tiny scratches on a piece of glass to guide information along optical fibers rather than using electronics’ to do the same job.

Information travels through the internet coded through a series of light flashes which are generated by lasers.

These flashes are then converted into electrical signals which the computer uses to form what is seen on the screen. But there is only so much information the electrical components of a computer can deal with at any one time.

To get around this obstacle the researchers created a filtering device which uses tiny narrow lines to filter the light into 64 channels, delivering much more information in a way which doesn’t overload the electronics of the computer.

Scratch circuits would be installed where information is served from, such as on the computer of an internet service provider.

General view

According to the Centre for Ultra-high bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS) at the University’s School of Physics, the scratch will mean almost instantaneous, error-free and unlimited access to the Internet anywhere in the world. Eggleton said that up until now information has been moving at a slow rate, but optical fibers have a huge capacity to deliver more. The scientists have claimed that this ’small scratch on a piece of glass’ is a critical building block and a fundamental advance on what is already out there.

David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies “could revolutionize society…with this kind of computing power, future generations can collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,”

Conclusion.

The general opinion about the Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) is of a positive revolutionary turn in the world of internet. Networks that are potentially a hundred times faster than the already existing services without costing the consumer will positively change the face of the internet across the world.

. This ‘Scratch’ gives the world an opportunity to get a lot done in less then a second and can take business on the internet to sky rocketing levels, especially online marketing.

Resources

http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/jul/10net.htm

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/A_scratch_to_make_net_100_times_faster/articleshow/

www.techworld.com.au/article/252361/photonic_switching_beckons_100x_internet_speeds

www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23995523-948,00.html

www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=2411

kooladda.wordpress.com/2008/07/12/a-scratch-to-make-net-100-times-faster