MONTON (CUP)—With no mass and
energy, photons, the particles of which
t is composed, are the fastest things
bund, travelling almost 300,000 kilometres
second. They’re able to carry massive
counts of information across huge dis- -
ces, racing through cables made of glass.
In the future, our personal computers
y use photons to process and move infor-
tion at impressive speeds.
The concept of a computer that runs on
t is often called an “all-optical comput-
’ and the advantages over today’s electron-
ystems could be significant.
Mark Summers, an electrical and comput-
ngineering graduate student at the
iversity of Alberta, is working in a field
ed photonics: the technology concerned
the moving and storing of information
g light. His work could one day lead to
puters that run on photons, replacing
electrons that today’s computers depend

“The photon can be thought of as an
information carrier, superior to the
tron in terms of transmitting data,”
ers said. “In optics, you overcome the
blems associated with heat dissipation,
you can fit a lot more information at
icular wavelengths in the same amount
space.”
Performance in today’s electronic com-
ers is pushed to higher limits by cram-
g as many componerts as possible onto

icrochip. The more pieces you can get on*

ip the more operations you can perform
ry second.

Electrons, however, like their personal
e, and if this space is compromised they

fighting for territory, which can make
too hot and cause circuits to fail.

tons, on the other hand, don’t mind each

aer’s company.

Still, getting a computer to run on pho-
would be a little trickier than simply
ting flashes of light down a tube. The

t must be controlled the way today’s
puters control electricity.

Inside your personal computer are minia-
e on/off switches—called transistors—

t control the flow of electrons by only

wing those with certain energies to move.
other energies fall into a “gap” and

’t allowed to pass through to other areas
the machine.

Just as humans use a sequence of sounds

newseditor@gmail.com

 

to communicate with one another, transis-
tors use a sequence of ones and zeros: “on”
represented by one and “off” represented by
zero. A bunch of these devices “talking” to
one another is what allows a computer to be
able to generate a picture or spellcheck an
essay for you.

A key step towards making a computer
that runs on light, then, will be developing a
material that has a gap for photons instead
of electrons.

In nature, highly ordered patterns in the
translucent wings of certain insects cause
parts of the sun’s white light to be filtered
out. The remaining energies are scattered
back to our eyes, which we see as a display
of vibrant colours.

Summers is fabricating what are known
as photonic crystals. These structures are
also highly ordered and possess a gap where
certain energies of light are unable to propa-
gate through the material.

Using a process called glancing angle
deposition (GLAD), Summers fashions these
materials out of silicon. The technique uses
a beam of high-energy electrons to transfer
silicon atoms to a flat surface at an oblique
angle, forming a highly ordered structure.

“The process grows isolated columns
which look like a field of grass,’ Summers
said. “We use complex computer-controlled
substrate motion algorithms to nano-engi-
neer a complicated three-dimensional archi-
tecture inside the columnar film.”

In other words, a fair amount of theory
and computation would be needed to get the
final structure just right.

Summers believes that if an all-optical
computer is possible, it will be realized in
three separate stages.

“The first stage will involve integrating
optical interconnects between the various
chips inside a computer increasing the band-
width between the devices,” he said. “The
next stage is to integrate microelectronic cir-
cuits with microphotonic circuits, and the
final stage will be everything optical, all the
way to the human interface.”

In the near future, photonic crystals will
most likely be used for simple applications
such as frequency filters or light-directing
devices. However, an all-optical computer is
the ultimate dream for many. Only time will
tell if the idea remains solely in the realm of
imagination, or eventually finds itself in the
hands of everyday users.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quebec Student Group
Calls for Zero Tuition

Jeremy Delman, CUP Québec Bureau Chief

MONTREAL (CUP)—Quebec’s progressive
student group is mobilizing for what they
believe will be a pivotal year in their struggle
to make postsecondary education free.

L’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale
Etudiante (ASSE) held their fall general
assembly Oct. 14. The 14 member unions
devised an action plan to pressure the provin-
cial government to defreeze, and ultimately,
eliminate tuition.

The group will continue its trademark
practice of escalating tactics, said Jaouad
Laaroussi, an ASSE spokesperson.

“We'll start with a petition campaign and
then we'll mobilize for demonstrations, and
then go from there,” Laaroussi said.

ASSE spearheaded the 2005 student strike
that forced the provincial government to back
down from enacting cuts to the bursaries and
loans program. During the strike, ASSE mem-
bers carried out more radical initiatives, like
blocking a Montreal bridge, to apply economic
pressure.

When most students, under the direction
of ASSE’s more moderate rival, la Fédération
Etudiante Universitaire du Québec (FEUQ),
stopped striking once the cuts were reversed,
ASSE members continued calling for the
“restructuring” of post-secondary education.

Now that ASSE’s membership has swelled
to 30,000—-still small compared to FEUQ’s
140,000—and a provincial election is on the
horizon, the progressive group is eager to get
its message out.

“We need to highlight that free education
doesn’t necessarily mean poor education,” said
Rafael Turbide, an-executive at l'Université de
Québec 4 Montréal’s social science faculty, one
of ASSE’s bigger members. “It’s clear that
making education free will require a massive
re-investment on the part of the government.”

The extra money the government would
need to make up for the lost tuition fees
would come from an increase in corporate
taxes, Laaroussi explained.

Though ASSE will continue to choose big
campaigns focused on single issues instead of
the more traditional government lobbying that
other student associations, including la FEUQ,
tend to prefer, the group maintains that they
have matured since 2005.

For one, pressure tactics carried out on
behalf of the organization will be chosen by
general assembly rather than by individuals. In
the past, ASSE members acting on their own
have spontaneously directed policy, as in the
case of the bridge blockade.

“Tt’s still very much a grassroots organiza-
tion, it’s just that they want everything to go
by general assembly,” said Philome La France,
a member of the Grassroots Association for
Student Power, an affiliate of ASSE’s.

La France said that ASSE has also struck a
media committee to improve its coverage in
the press—a big move for a group that largely
avoided contact with mainstream reporters
during the 2005 strike.

3