NYT: New Conductor Guides Data Along the Fiber Optic Route

Researchers at Harvard University are developing a new class of optical nanowires as thin as 50 nanometers in diameter that could serve as flexible low-loss interfaces between optical fiber and other photonic devices, according to The New York Times. The diameters of the nanowires are smaller than the wavelengths of the transmitted light, creating an evanescent field such that the nanowires become the path around which the light waves flow. This enables light to hop from one nanowire to another -- a characteristic that could be used to make tiny multiplexers, demultiplexers and other devices like splitters. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/29/technology/circuits/29next.html