In University of Oxford, some researchers have developed a technique to maximise the information storage density by using the polarization of light and computing performance using nanowires.

HIGHLIGHTS 

• Development of a new technique to maximize storage density by using polarization 
• More researches are going over the usage of light as a means to compute 
• For enhancing the information density every polarization used as independent channel 

We can say that light has an exploitable quality as light of different wavelength do not interact with each other. It is considered as a characteristic that can be used by fiberoptics in order to hold the parallel streams of information. Similarly, completely different polarizations of light do not interact with one another either. Therefore, every polarization will be used as an independent information channel that can enable a lot of information that could be stored in multiple channels, which can massively enhance the information density.

One of the author and DPhil student named June Sang Lee, Department of Materials, University of Oxford has mentioned that they all of them are aware of the fact that the advantage of photonics over physics is that light which is quicker and is more functional over massive bandwidths. So, the aim which they had set was to completely harness such advantages of photonics combining with tunable material in order to realize quicker and denser information processing.

Along with a collaboration with Prof C. David Wright, University of Exeter the analysis team had developed a HAD (hybridized-active-dielectric) nanowire. It is developed by the usage of a hybrid glassy material that shows switchable material properties upon the illumination of optical pulses. Well, every nanowire shows selective responses to the specific polarization direction with which the information can be simultaneously processed using different varieties of polarizations in several directions.

Using this idea, researchers have developed the primary photonic computing processor to utilize polarizations of light.

Photonic computing is getting carried out through multiple polarization channels, which would result as an improvement in computing density by multiple orders compared to that of conventional electronic chips. The computing speeds got faster because these nanowires have been modulated by nanosecond optical pulses.

Since the invention of the primary integrated circuit in 1958, packing of more transistors into a particular given size of an electronic chip has been the go-to means of maximizing the computing density that can be called as 'Moore's Law.' However, with AI and Machine Learning requiring specialized hardware has been marked as the beginning to push the boundaries of established computing. Well, the dominant question of this area of electronic engineering has been 'How will we pack more of such functionalities into a single transistor?'

For over a decade, researchers in Professor Harish Bhaskaran's lab in the Department of Materials, University of Oxford have been researching over the usage of light as a means to compute.

Professor Bhaskaran, the one who led the work has specified that 'This is simply the beginning of what we wish to see in future, which is the exploitation of all degrees of freedoms that light actually offers, including polarization to dramatically parallelize information processing. Definitely early-stage work, but they are super exciting concepts that combine electronic, non-linear materials and computing. Lots of exciting prospects to work on is always an excellent place to be in.'

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