And that's just part of the challenge. Silicon lasers must be powered by electricity coming from other parts of the chip, not by other lasers as they were in Pavesi's lab. Pavesi says he has some projects on the drawing board to stimulate his silicon crystals electronically but he acknowledges that it is his biggest challenge. In traditional chips, the flow of current around the circuits is governed by the transistors, which are tiny switches. Making analogous optical devices on the tiny scale demanded by chip-making is a breakthrough yet to be achieved.
Estimates range from three years to never.
But other scientists say they can see the goal shimmering before them. The only limit then will be our imagination. David Orenstein is a senior writer for Business 2.0.