Newest Chip Is Combination of Fiber Optics and Electronics

The chips, which contain both traditional electronic circuits and ultrathin conduits for laser light, herald the potential to blend the low-cost manufacturing prowess of the semiconductor world with the ultrahigh-speed potential of laser optical networking.
The convergence of the two technologies is expected to have a major impact on the computing and communications industries, both in the design of future computers and on drastically less expensive networks that will make applications of such fiber optic networks to homes commercially viable.
"This is the opening of a new field," said Alan Huang, a physicist who pioneered optical communications research at Bell Laboratories during the 1980's. "This falls exactly between two technologies."