---
title: "Linking Computer Components With Light Instead of Wires"
description: "Engineers have designed and built a prism-like device that can split a beam of light into different colors and bend the light at right angles, a development that could eventually lead to computers that use optics rather than electricity to carry data."
date: "2014-12-03"
modified: "2015-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "Oana Stefanescu"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kidco"
url: "https://futurism.com/linking-computer-components-light-instead-wires"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "computing"
---

# Linking Computer Components With Light Instead of Wires

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/engineerstak.jpg>)

- The optical link is a tiny slice of silicon etched with a pattern that resembles a bar code
- A property of materials called the index of refraction characterizes the difference in speed
- The algorithm began its work with a simple design of just silicon. Then, through hundreds of tiny adjustments, it found better and better bar code structures for producing the desired output light.