Paper on low-power optical RAM published

LONDON, UK: A paper on an optical random access memory integrated on a silicon chip with record low-power consumption has been published by researchers from Interuniversity Micro Electronics Centre (IMEC), Leuven, Belgium, and the department of information technology at Ghent University (INTEC), Ghent, Belgium.

A statement from IMEC said the result of the research will pave the way for optical packet switching which would not require to be converted from optical to electrical for storage. This will enable, in turn, reduction in the overall power consumption in optical telecommunication systems.

The researchers said in their paper, published in the journal Nature Photonics, that the optical random access memory was made from disc-shaped indium phosphide lasers that have 7.5-micron diameter. The laser light can propagate in either the clockwise direction or the counter-clockwise direction. A user can switch between these two laser modes using short optical pulses.

The process uses integrating the indium phosphide membranes onto passive silicon waveguide circuits, and this lets different memory cells to be optically connected using silicon wires. It also uses the silicon-based microelectronics fabrication technology. The researchers claim that this is a cost-effective solution.