University researchers develop light-powered microchips

BOULDER — Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are part of a team that has developed a microprocessor chip that uses light, which could pave the way for faster computing systems and network infrastructure while using less energy, CU announced Wednesday.

Researchers at CU, the University of California Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed the light-based circuits that can transfer data at rapid speeds while using minute amounts of energy.

“Light-based integrated circuits could lead to radical changes in computing and network chip architecture in applications ranging from smartphones to supercomputers to large data centers, something computer architects have…