Intel's high-speed silicon optical network

Intel has unveiled its prototype optical communication laser transmitter and receiver, designed to transfer data at speeds of 50 Gbps. This breakthrough will allow them to produce silicon-based optical links to be used in computers to ramp up the speed to up to 8 Tbps within the next 5 years. According to Intel the optical links will soon replace the copper wires that are currently being used to connect components in data centers and PCs. The new technology uses a sophisticated silicon laser that will come embedded in the transmitter chip itself, as well as with components such as the modulator and multiplexer, which can be used to combine laser beams into separate channels that would allow transmission over the optical network. 50 gigabits of data per second is equivalent of an entire HD movie being transmitted each second.