IBM slows down light

IBM has slowed light down to 1/300th of its speed using materials that are commonly available. This could be the breakthrough that allows computers to run using optical technology rather than electroncs. An optical based computer could run much faster and use far less power than the energy hogging CPUs that we have today. This is exciting news to me!

From the article at ZDNet:

[blockquote]The chip, called a photonic silicon waveguide, is a piece of silicon dotted with arrays of tiny holes. Scattered systematically by the holes, light shown on the chip slows down to 1/300th of its ordinary speed of 186,000 miles per second. In a computer system, slower light pulses could carry data rapidly, but in an orderly fashion. The light can be further slowed by applying an electric field to the waveguide.[/blockquote]

Could we see the first optical computers within the next five years?