A new material could enhance the capacity of the information superhighway
People may soon be able not only to
choose from hundreds of television
channels, but also use their television
and telephone,sets to arrange for a
telecast of their favourite movies to
watch immediately or store for later
viewing, and even receive airline schedules, news and catalogue shopping information whenever they desire.
Researchers at the US-based Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
have developed a new material that
raises hopes of realising the scenario
described, by making it possible to
speed up communication and retrieval
of information even as the number of
users increases. Preliminary studies
indicate that the new ORNL material,
could pave the way for much greater
and extensive use of the emerging
Information highway, the scientists
claim (Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Review, Vol 27, No 3).
Rodney McKee
Fred Walker at the
ORNL's Metals
Ceramics Division have
developed a new class
of optically thin ceramic
film 'waveguides' for
transmitting waves of
light. The waveguide
consists of a chemical,
barium titinate, deposited one-atom layer at a laser beam
time, on a crystal of
magnesium oxide. Their studies have
also shown that the waveguide material can be deposited over silicon,
which serves as a support structure
for components such as laser diodes
and microcircuits because of its purity,
crystal perfection and other electronic
and physical properties.
The scientists are now trying to
develop an optical switch consisting
of silicon on which is deposited magnesium oxide, the barium titinate
waveguide, and appropriately figured
electrodes. "Switches using this type
of waveguide could increase the
amount of information carried by the
fibre optic cables by over 100 times," McKee says.
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