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Scientist keeps light years ahead of the competition

Ben Eggleton's latest invention - a photonic wire - is too small to see with the naked eye. In fact, it is 100 times smaller than an existing optical fibre, which is only as thick as a human hair.

But it will revolutionise the communications network, helping link the globe through light, quickly and cheaply.

The wire itself guides light in the same way a copper wire guides electricity, and is part of Professor Eggleton's wider research into light.

His team at the University of Sydney is also working on new ways to slow down light and store it, and one of his pioneering experiments was to control the flow of one light beam with another. "[This] is an incredibly fast process that offers the potential to increase commun-ication bandwidth by many orders of magnitude," he said.

Last night Professor Eggleton was named Physical Scientist of the Year at a ceremony in Parliament House in Canberra for his work in optical physics.

He likened the present state of optical communication to the earliest days of computers in the 1940s, but believed the technology would yield great things. Just as it would have been difficult to imagine that computers the size of rooms would lead to the internet and laptops, it is hard to predict what will flow from the light-based systems that deliver massive amounts of information quickly.

However, some of the benefits might include cheap and disposable superfast computers and high-definition movies via cable on demand.

Professor Eggleton, 34, who was lured back to Australia from a senior position at Bell Laboratories in the US with a Federation Fellowship in 2003, said Australia was a leader in light communication.

He also believed there was an information divide between rich and poor countries. The city of London, for example, had more internet ports than the whole continent of Africa.

"I think our technology will help change that. And the view of the United Nations is that that would be good for peace."

It is worth noting that during the six years the former Balgowlah Boys High student spent at Bell Laboratories the amount of data that can be trans-mitted using optical fibres increased a thousand-fold, thanks, in part, to his invention.

Professor Eggleton attributed his success to having worked with outstanding scientists and meeting challenges head on. When big life decisions had to be made, he said, "I always tried to take the harder path, the one that was higher risk".

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By Deborah Smith, Science Editor
September 8, 2004

[original article]

Posted by thinkum at September 9, 2004 11:17 AM