Transistor lights the way
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed the world's first light emitting transistor (LET).
Unlike conventional transistors, which include an electrical input port and an electrical output port, the new LET also has an infrared optical output port.
The LET is built of indium gallium phosphide and gallium arsenide, rather than the silicon and germanium used in many conventional transistors.
Although the LET produces light in essentially the same way that light emitting diodes operate, the transistor can modulate light at much higher speeds.
So far, the researchers have managed to modulate the output at 1 MHz, but much higher speeds are theoretically possible.
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