UCSB Engineering

Intel has used groundbreaking technology developed in collaboration with UC Santa Barbara to create a prototype chip that uses light to move data at up to 50 billion bits per second (50Gbps). That's fast enough to transmit an entire HD movie in a second.

A key component of this blazing fast optical data connection is the hybrid silicon laser, the earlier product of a partnership between Intel and a UCSB team led by Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering John Bowers.

Transmitting data optically, rather than as electrical signals, is faster and more energy efficient. By replacing electrical connections with optical links, researchers aim to eliminate transmission bottlenecks that plague current computing systems, and to open up a new era of high-performance computing and communications.

"This is a good example of university and industry working together to solve an important problem," says Bowers, who is also the director of UCSB's Institute for Energy Efficiency. He talks about the work in this video and in this podcast.

Intel's prototype chip, and UCSB's contribution to it, were reported on by media outlets in the U.S. and farther afield, including the San Jose Mercury News, Optics.org, The Register, and Engadget.