Engineering researchers at Stanford University in the U.S. are working to make computers faster and more efficient by making it practical to use light instead of electricity to carry data inside computers. The key , they say, is automating the process of designing optical interconnects.

In essence, the Stanford engineers want to miniaturize the proven technology of the Internet, which moves data by beaming photons of light through fiber optic threads.

"For chip-scale links, light can carry more than 20 times as much data," says Stanford graduate student Alexander Piggott, the lead author of an article in Nature Photonics.

So far, engineers have had to design optical interconnects one at a time, making optical data transport impractical. With the inverse design algorithm, engineers specify what they want the optical circuit to do. The software provides the details of how to fabricate a silicon structure to perform the task.

"We used the algorithm to design a working optical circuit and made several copies in our lab," says Electrical Engineering Professor Jelena Vuckovic.

The research team reports that the devices functioned flawlessly, leading them to believe that the technology may be easy to mass-produce.

The Stanford algorithm designs silicon structures so slender that more than 20 of them could sit side-by-side inside the diameter of a human hair. These silicon interconnects can direct a specific frequency of infrared light to a specific location to replace a wire.

The researchers envision other potential applications for their inverse design algorithm, including high bandwidth optical communications, compact microscopy systems and ultra-secure quantum communications.