The transistor laser

A team of scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has at its disposal an extraordinary prototype transistor that can switch on and off more than 700 billion times per second, faster than any other transistor in the world. Based on the observation of significant light in the base of the transistors, the team reengineered a new, more powerful kind of device, a transistor laser. The resultant laser puts out both electrical signals and a laser beam, which can be directly modulated to send optical signs at the rate of 10 billion bits per second. With some further modification, the transistor laser will eventually send a staggering 100 billion bits per second or more at room temperature.