According to Robert S. Boyd, from The Philadelphia Inquirer, the answer is yes. This reporter uses pretty strong words to describe a technology that might -- or not -- appear someday: replacing electrons by photons for many applications.
In other words, the birth of the photonic revolution!
A major technological transformation, potentially as significant as the electronic revolution of the 20th century, is creeping up on a largely unsuspecting world.
Light, in the form of tiny, weightless particles called photons, is on its way to succeeding electrons as the high-tech workhorse of the 21st century, scientists say.
Practical applications of the coming photonic revolution are still a ways off, but researchers offer the prospect of much faster communications, more powerful computers, sharper display screens, more effective ways to harness sunlight for energy, and many other benefits.
By shooting photons through the air instead of pushing electrons along wires, information networks could move data at trillions of bits per second, instead of millions or billions as now. And photonic links could provide thousandfold savings in size and power needs, according to Anthony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
First applications should appear in telecommunications where some companies like Lucent already are working on "photonic switches," systems of mirrors that redirect photons.
I'm leaving the conclusion to Mikhail Lukin, a Harvard physicist.
"Right now, it's mostly baby steps in the lab. But there is hope for something practical someday."
It seems to me that he's a little bit enthusiastic than the author of the article.
Source: Robert S. Boyd, The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 2, 2002
6:05:10 PM
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