Plasmonic electronics for future computing?

[maikeru]

I read an article in the April edition of Scientific American that suggests that plasmonics, how photons cause electrons to propagate waves that can be converted back into light, may be the new wave of future electronics, allowing vastly more powerful and quick computing. The major drawback, though, is that plasmonic waves only travel a few millimeters, so have distance limitations where propagation of a few cm would be ideal. My question is, how realistic is this? Are we really going to see new computer electronics and more that'll utilise this?

 

Or is this a Popular Science/Mechanics kind of pie-in-the-sky article about future tech that never turns out? (For example, I remember that one Popular Mechanics article asserted that the American military would be using giant lasers to shoot enemy aircraft out of the sky as part of 21st century warfare. It sounded stupid then and has never appeared, even 10-15 years after I read the article and all technology has moved on. I don't read PM or PS, because they seem light on science and more science fantasy.)

 

A few links I found helpful:

The Promise of Plasmonics -- [ INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ]: Scientific American (This is the actual SciAm article.)

Plasmon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nano-optics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Engineers study whether plasmonics, 'light on a wire,' is circuitry wave of future

 

I would love to see this come true and move from the lab onto our desktops. I'm not an engineer, physicist, or quantum mechanics person, so forgive my limited understanding of the subject.

 

Edit: I need to read tech news more carefully. The link I posted has little to do with plasmonics. Sorry Buffy, thanks for correcting me on that one.

 

The SciAm article discusses making an "invisibility cloak" a la Harry Potter in theory.

[Buffy]

I read the article. Although the "invisibility cloak" section is sticking its hide out over the edge, the rest of it makes a lot of sense. Sounds no more science fictiony than I'm sure transistors did in the tube age. Something has got to be done to move stuff faster in the limited space available, and it seems that "cooler communications" across chips sure would make a huge difference for one of the upcoming Moore's Law generations.

 

The cloaking application though I think is completely different than what was publicised a few months back as a working technology, but I've been too lazy to look it up.

 

PNP,

Buffy

[maikeru]

Sorry, "nano-needle cloaking devices" and plasmonics do have just about nothing in common except that both involve photons and manipulating them. I remember reading the tech news a while back, and I was in a hurry when I was posting this, so I didn't read it clearly again. :)

 

I also thought the "invisibility cloak" was stretching it a little far. But if so, take that Harry Potter! Who has the magic now? :)