Mini tech post: Optical modulator

[dracodraconis]

A new optical modulator, more than 100 times smaller than previous designs, may allow optical routing between components on a single chip. The modulator converts a continuous laser into optical pulses that match an input signal. This could be used to connect multiple  processor cores on a single chip, allowing them to communicate 100 times faster, and using 10 times less energy, than current multi-core systems that use wires.