Switch with light
When it comes to miniaturizing electronic components, researchers are now reaching insurmountable limits. Systems that transmit signals by light could offer a way out. The young field of topological photonics should soon make such circuits possible.
The information age began in the 1970s: Since then, people have been processing and distributing ever larger amounts of data, be it in the form of text, images or videos. While in 1986 the world's telecommunications networks were exchanging around 0.3 exabits (1018 bits) of data annually, by 2014 it was already several hundred exabits - and the values continue to grow at a rapid rate.
In the meantime, however, information systems are reaching their limits. Therefore, researchers are feverishly searching for new technologies that could meet the growing demand. Optical systems could solve the problem in the future, but so far they are not powerful enough. Therefore, some physicists are pinning their hopes on topological photonics, where abstract mathematical concepts help to develop promising technologies.
As sophisticated as today's information systems appear, they are largely based on two very different inventions of the 19th century: the radio, designed by the Italian Guglielmo Marconi in 1895, and the telegraph, developed by the American Samuel Morse in 1840.
Radio made it possible for the first time to spread information through electromagnetic waves at the speed of light. Thanks to numerous technical advances, antennas could be made smaller and smaller; they can now be found in a number of technical devices such as mobile phones. However, the tiny antennas lose their range at high transmission rates: if you want to spread around 100 megabits per second, it's over after a few hundred meters.
To exchange large amounts of data quickly, researchers are therefore using a different approach based on the telegraph…
