Intel Researchers Build Laser Using Computer Chip Silicon

Developing a new use for the material that’s already the foundation of the computer chip industry, Intel Corp. researchers have built a continuously shining silicon laser that could drive down the cost of optical networking.

Such a laser could make high-bandwidth, light-based communication feasible for not only the connections between computers but also the links between components inside PCs. It also could slash the cost of lasers used in defense, medicine and other industries.

Just a few years ago, few experts thought silicon could be used to build a laser, said Mario Paniccia, director of Intel’s photonics lab. It tends to absorb light energy, dissipating it as heat rather than amplifying it like lasers built with more exotic materials.

“This is a fundamental breakthrough,” said Paniccia, a co-author of the Intel study, to be published in the journal Nature today. “It’s one of those things that’s a game changer. You’re doing something in silicon that couldn’t be done before.”

If the research continues on track, the devices could be made in the same plants now used to build microprocessor and memory chips, thereby helping companies such as Intel further leverage their multibillion-dollar manufacturing investments.

Laser beams are usually created by using a blast of electricity or light to boost the energy levels of electrons in atoms of polished crystal rods, semiconductors, gases or vapors. Then the electrons fall back, and photons, the basic element of light, are released. The photons are then bounced back and forth before they’re beamed out as concentrated light.

The basic process doesn’t work with silicon because of its physical qualities. Instead, researchers focused on a weak but precise scattering of photons called the Raman effect, which occurs when silicon is stimulated by a light source.

It turns out silicon is a good material for Raman lasers, which are already being used in the fiber of long-haul telecommunications networks. Previous research found that with silicon, the effect is 10,000 times stronger than in the glass fiber. That means the effect is stronger at shorter distances.

Intel shares fell 33 cents to $24.14 on Nasdaq.