World's thinnest nanowires will drive computers super fast in the near future using light, a new research claims.

Nanowires will use a 'photonic chip' at its core to perform functions in computing and electronics.

Researchers from Swinburne University of Technology and the Australian National University engineered a nanowire thousand times thinner than a human hair in a special type of glass known as chalcogenide. The photonic chip is the primary goal of the Centre for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), involving six universities, says doctoral student Elisa Nicoletti, who led the study.

The internet is connected by miles of optic fibre cables and electronic routers. However, these routers work at much slower speeds than the optic cables, slowing the system down, according to a Swinburne statement. 

Photonic chip would solve this problem, powering ultra-fast telecom networks that transfer information at the speed of light.

The realization of the chip will rely on a range of factors, including the fabrication of extremely tiny materials and the researchers' ability to harness a unique optical property known as the 'non-linear effect'. Chalcogenide exhibits non-linearity, which means its optical density changes according to the applied light intensity. Simply told, it can handle the passage of greater or lesser intensity of light, without breaking down.