NASA scientists are working to solve the need for computer speed using light itself to accelerate calculations and increase data bandwidth.
Watches tick in seconds.
Basketball games are timed in 10ths of a second, and drag racers in 100ths. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. In a billionth of a second, one nanosecond, photons of light travel just a bit less than a foot, not considering resistance in air or of an optical fiber strand or thin film. Just right for doing things very quickly in microminiaturized computer chips. Newer advances have produced a variety of thin films and optical fibers that make optical interconnections and devices practical.