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Optical computing could benefit from new 'whispering gallery' fiber
It's a spooky feature of Grand Central Station that if you whisper something against the wall, your voice can resonate around the perimeter of the building and sneak up on you from behind. The same 'whispering gallery' principle is crucial to next-gen optical computing: light signals have to be sent on extremely circuitous journeys through 'microresonators', which temporarily bottle up the beams and thereby serve as memory. So far, microresonators have generally been made from silicon wafers etched with the a long series of loops. However, even the most precise etching leaves imperfections, which quickly cause the signal to lose its strength and fade away. Now, researchers at OFS Laboratories in Somerset, N. J., have come up with a different type of microresonator that could potentially hold onto light 100 times longer. The new technology diverts light onto a stretch of optic fiber that has been specially manufactured with tiny step-changes in its diameter. When the signal hits this abrupt change, it reverses and goes back the opposite way -- and, if it hits another diameter change, it will effectively enter a whispering gallery inside the fiber, bouncing up and down with only minor attenuation. The OFS scientists claim their microresonator could appear in "specialized devices" in just two or three years, which is good to hear, because electronics is starting to get old.
First light wave quantum teleportation achieved, opens door to ultra fast data transmission
Mark this day, folks, because the brainiacs have finally made a breakthrough in quantum teleportation: a team of scientists from Australia and Japan have successfully transferred a complex set of quantum data in light form. You see, previously researchers had struggled with slow performance or loss of information, but with full transmission integrity achieved -- as in blocks of qubits being destroyed in one place but instantaneously resurrected in another, without affecting their superpositions -- we're now one huge step closer to secure, high-speed quantum communication. Needless to say, this will also be a big boost for the development of powerful quantum computing, and combine that with a more bedroom friendly version of the above teleporter, we'll eventually have ourselves the best LAN party ever.
Philips wants to bring copy-and-paste to interior lighting
We'll be straight with you -- we've never actually waltzed through the rooms at Engadget HQ and had the urge to reproduce the exact output from light A with light B. Evidently, we're the exception and not the rule. According to a lingering patent application from Philips, it's seeking to create a system in which sensors could be used to detect "light attributes" from one location and paste them over to another location in order to produce perfectly uniform scenarios throughout the home / office / etc. Heck, it even details a memory bank in order to easily set the mood of the entire building when necessary. Can't say this is where we envisioned the future of copy-and-paste going, but we suppose it'll do.[Via NewScientist, image courtesy of Fusion Lighting]
Light Wave Surfboard alerts tugboats of your presence
Now that it's been made possible to surf in bitterly cold waters without freezing up, we're sure more than a few daredevils would like to cut up after hours. Santa Cruz Light Wells' latest contraption takes the worry out of surfing beyond dusk, as the Light Wave Surfboard features headlights, a rail light, and fin lights to keep you lit up whilst carving those murky waves. Additionally, the rail light is controlled by a left or right handed dimmer switch, the headlights are activated by lifting the nose, and the tube lights / headlights can be "programmed to run from 10 to 45 seconds" at a time. The whole kit is powered by "two replaceable batteries" that should keep things bright for at least a night or two, but considering the $2,950 pricetag attached to this thing, we were definitely expecting it to run off hydroelectricity.[Via ShinyShiny]
