A new method of transferring light into acoustic information on microchips, successful in trials for the first time, could improve data center efficiency, according to researchers from the University of Sydney.

With photonic streams, optical information reaches chips at such a high speed that it is hard to process the data fast enough. While on the one hand, using electronics with faster microprocessors would address the issue of speed, on the other hand, more powerful processors tend to be hotter, use more energy and generate interference. Photonic chips provide a solution to this, granted the data can be slowed in order to become exploitable.

Researchers have demonstrated that optical information can in fact be transferred onto a chip as an acoustic hypersound wave, a buffer of sorts, slowing to the point where it can be read and processed before being turned back into optical data and relayed to its destination.

University of Sydney doctoral candidate Mr Merklein said: “Building an acoustic buffer inside a chip improves our ability to control information by several orders of magnitude.”

Multiple wavelengths