scalarparty ([info]scalarparty) wrote,
@ 2006-04-12 05:17:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:efficiency, nano

Transistor Lasers.... ¿Qué?
the thing with being a 'generalist'.....
TSTS
OK, I don't love the term, but I guess being a generalist has its benefits (aside form the fact that I can still use world like 'Awesome' and 'WayKewel'). But because of that role, every now and then I come across something I feel may have great implications, but be honest, I have absolutely no Idea what it means... So I am going to out a good friend, my bud [info]somerled, the poet 5ring warrior physicist (from Cambridge!) and ask him to read this and make heads/tails. OK P'man? What does this mean???

"The transistor laser, invented by scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been full of surprises. Researchers recently coaxed the device to reveal fundamental properties of the transistor, and of the transistor laser, moving it a step closer to commercialization."

I think it's for computing with light instead of electricity... but have no real clue... P'man-- need some help! Is this some sort of funky hyperspeed LED?? What's going on?


(Post a new comment)


[info]somerled
2006-04-12 01:08 pm UTC (link)
Transistors are used in analog and digital circuits, in the latter they act like electrical switches in logic, memory, and processor chips. They are the most important invention ever, and a modern microprocessor has hundreds of millions of them.

Phototransistors use the photoelectric effect, so a light source can generate the charge required to toggle the transistor, rather than a current. This is key to how fibreoptic cables communicate information between computers.

The transistor laser goes farther, by creating two outputs from a transistor, one electrical, one light. These researchers have been able to use the effect to study what makes such transistors really tick.

There are three big new directions I can imagine digital technology going, in addition to the standard one (nanoscale electrical processor fabrication):
- photonics; developing a transistor based entirely on light
- quantum computing; using quantum states as a basis for a transistor or chip
- molecular computer; using DNA and protein organization for computations

The work described in the article might help the nanofabrication approach, as well as the photonic one.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]scalarparty
2006-04-12 03:23 pm UTC (link)
thanks dood! i knew u'd come through... will have to keep an eye open to see how this one gets put into play...

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…