Researchers from Penn State and the University of Southampton in the UK have recently discovered a way to put the materials used to produce computer chips into optical fiber, which supports the internet.

The discovery may lead to a faster and less expensive internet, as well as other technological innovations.

Currently, the connections between computer chips and optical fiber are major speed bumps on the information superhighway.

The information superhighway is a highway of light traveling through optical fiber, said Venkatraman Gopalan, professor of materials science and co-investigator in the research.

"And every time you have to get out of and back into a fiber its like taking an exit and getting back onto the highway and this slows you down," he added.

Computer chips and optical fiber "are sort of butted together," Gopalan said.

An example of computer chips and optical fiber butting with each other can be seen in using e-mail. While computer chips use electrons to process e-mail, optical fiber uses photons (particles of light) to transmit e-mail, Gopalan said.

Also, flat computer chips and round optical fibers "are not natural partners," said John Badding, professor of chemistry and US team leader in the research.

Having discovered a way to put the materials used to produce computer chips into optical fiber, researchers are hopeful that the connections between computer chips and optical fiber will eventually become more harmonious.

It could take 10 or 20 years of research to demonstrate what the new fiber can do, Badding said, adding that the transistor, which lead to the computer chip, came about in 1955.

Incorporating the materials used to produce computer chips into optical fiber means there is a possibility of eventually incorporating electronics into optical fiber, Badding said.

Researchers learned to coat the insides of the capillaries within optical fiber with silicon, which is used in computer chips, and other semiconductor materials.

Coating the insides of the capillaries for only a few centimeters only every so often can do interesting things, Badding said.

Researchers have successfully put a transistor into the new fiber and foresee putting more complex devices such as detectors, which convert photons to electrons, and lasers, which convert electrons to photons, into the new fiber.