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 Directing Light Using Tiny Bubbles: Toward Low-Power Light-Based Computers
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  Dr Nihit Saigal*
Email: nihsai7795@gmail.com
Transistors are tiny electrical switches that are the basic components of most electronic gadgets, including computers and mobile phones. While most transistors run on electrical currents, my colleagues and I have come up with a light-based switch that mimics a transistor but consumes much less power. In this switch, a very low-power light beam controls the path of another light beam through a bubble.
All of us use mobile phones and computers. They make our life easy and happy. Calculations that would take hours to do on a paper can be done in fractions of a second on a computer. They also open up a world of information, knowledge and opportunities for each one of us. Have you ever had the question: “What is the basic unit of a computer
that makes all of this come true?” The answer to this question is something called a transistor.
In simple words, a transistor is a switch that can control the flow of electrical current, that is, it can turn the current on or off. Billions of such switches are packed in an area close to the size of our fingernail in a typical computer chip. All these units working in tandem make the computer work its magic.
One major issue with packing so many transistors switches together in such a small space is that they consume a lot of power. Some of this power also heats up the switch and may cause damage to it. This is one of the major issues that limit the efficiency of the computer. Thus, there is a need for making a switch that can run on low power. One such alternative is a transistor switch based on light. Such a
 * Dr Nihit Saigal, Post Doctoral Fellow from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, is pursuing his research on “Optical Spectroscopy of Nanomaterials”. His popular science story entitled “Directing Light Using Tiny Bubbles: Toward Low- Power Light-Based Computers” has been selected for AWSAR Award.

























































































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