IT abroad: Physicists from Japan unveil ultralow-power optical memory

A team of Japanese physicists has developed an ultralow-power all-optical memory, the article published in Nature Photonics journal reads.

Attempts to create a computer which would use optical signals instead of electric impulses, - a so-called optical computer – is a field which attracts active studies (thus, for example, the first passive optical diode has been recently developed). As part of new initiative scientists were involved into development of optical memory.

The memory, designed by Japanese scholars is a photon crystal, that is a matter where the refraction index changes from time to time. The particle represents 1 bit of memory, while the crystal serves as a light guide and heat sink.

Scholars have managed to get 4 bits of memory. The tests showed that such bit was able to save data without charging for over 10 seconds (in former systems this index amounted to approx. 250 nanoseconds). What is more, the new memory consumes about 25 nanowatts, what is far lower than the indices of analogous devices.

The main drawback of the new memory is relatively high recording time.