Scientists at the University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute (USC ISI) and the University of Wisconsin–Madison have developed the world’s first regenerative photonic memory on a commercial foundry platform, a major step toward practical light-based computing.

The breakthrough addresses a critical bottleneck in modern computing known as “interconnect delay.” As demand for processing power has surged, traditional electronic systems have hit fundamental limits. Metal wires can only transmit electrical signals so fast, suffer from resistance and heat, constraining both speed and efficiency. Meanwhile, the hardware required to meet growing computational needs continues to expand in size and energy consumption.

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