University of Alberta engineers have designed nano-optical cables that are ten times smaller than current fiber optic cables. These new nano-optical cables are small enough to replace copper wiring that is currently used on computer chips.
To develop these new cables, the engineers also had to design a new, non-metallic metamaterial that could condense and hold light waves without creating heat, losing data, or slowing down the signal. Computing speeds could be dramatically increased with the use of these new cables instead of copper wiring, and it would also reduce the amount of energy used by electronic devices.
