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Fast connect

The dream of having a faster Internet within a few years may come true if pure science research by physicists in Bangalore succeeds.

In what may lead to the creation of more powerful data carrier in future than the trusted optical fibre cables, scientists have proposed a new route to produce “photonic crystals” that will lie at the core of those futuristic data network.

Currently, glass-made optical fibres rule the digital world as they carry more such data than archaic copper cables of the previous generation. But intense research is going on to develop the next generation data carrier which will be superior even to optical fibre.

One of the promising building blocks is called photonic crystal, a nano-material that works on the principles of light. Worldwide scientists are figuring out how such crystals of superior quality can be grown in the laboratory to develop the next generation carrier.

A team comprising researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, Raman Research Institute—both in Bangalore—and Austrian Academy of Sciences in Graz claims to have discovered a novel route to grow these crystals using DNA molecule. The findings have been published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

“We have suggested another route to produce these crystals. Our method involves the use of DNA templates to make new crystal structure. These crystals can be grown by changing the DNA concentration,” A K Sood, professor of physics at IISc and one of the team members, told Deccan Herald. The Indian method, Sood claimed, was better than the commonest technique (colloidal route) explored by other scientists as the Indian method can produce crystals of various structures—hexagonal, square and super-lattice—just by varying the DNA concentration. On the contrary, the route followed by other scientists can produce only one type of crystal.

“It is a new recipe of making these crystals, which we found after studying its physics closely. This can now be used to create new structures of photonic crystals,” said V A Raghunathan, a professor at Raman Institute and one of the team members.