Today relatively low data transmission speeds can be considered as one of the major problems of computer networks development. That is why the U.S. researchers worked at a completely new method of information transfer. They decided to use a device, which realizes optical signal and information processing. Those studies, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), have led to the creation of polymethine, the new synthetic polymer material.

The scientists still facing mass of unsolved problems, but their work continues and soon will appear the first examples of communication devices, which will be able to achieve data transmission speeds of 100 gigabits per second (using existing communications infrastructure). However, the potential of this technology is so high that in the future it will be possible to achieve data rates of 2,000 gigabits per second.