Graphene to integrate electronics and photonics

Photonics is a class of devices analogous to our current electronics except using photons of light instead of electrons. In photonics, light serves as the "electrons" that carry information around in circuits, but there are some important differences. In particular, light is better at transmitting information (hence fiber-optic cables for transmission) and electrons are better at processing information (all our computers are still electron-based). Now, researchers at the Graphene Research Center in Singapore, have said that graphene could be the missing link to bring the two into information-processing harmony. The study evaluates the possible incorporation of graphene-based photonic devices into current silicon-based ones to dramatically increase the bandwidth capabilities.