# 3 Advances in Physics, Nanophysics, Optics & Photonics that will improve computers



## lotuseclat79 (Sep 12, 2003)

New advance could lead to even smaller features in the constant quest for more compact, faster microchips.



> *The microchip revolution has seen a steady shrinking of features on silicon chips, packing in more transistors and wires to boost chips speed and data capacity. But in recent years, the technologies behind these chips have begun to bump up against fundamental limits, such as the wavelengths of light used for critical steps in chip manufacturing.*


New method for enhancing thermal conductivity could cool computer chips, lasers and other devices.



> *The surprising discovery of a new way to tune and enhance thermal conductivity  a basic property generally considered to be fixed for a given material  gives engineers a new tool for managing thermal effects in smart phones and computers, lasers and a number of other powered devices.*


Optical fiber innovation could make future optical computers a 'SNAP'.



> *Optics and photonics may one day revolutionize computer technology with the promise of light-speed calculations. Storing light as memory, however, requires devices known as microresonators, an emerging technology that cannot yet meet the demands of computing. The solution, described in a paper published today in the Optical Society's (OSA) journal Optics Letters, may lie in combining light's eerie quantum properties with a previously unknown quality of optical fiber.*


-- Tom


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