Simply, this means that the new device is directly compatible with other elements in that group – such as silicon, carbon, and lead – and so can be directly incorporated in a silicon chip as it is manufactured. This presents new possibilities for transmitting data around computer chips using light, which could result in potential transfer speeds exponentially faster than possible with copper wire and using only a fraction of the energy of today's integrated circuits.

Germanium lasers have been mooted for use in optical computer chipsbefore, but the demonstration of a working prototype that has the potential for being embedded directly in a silicon-based integrated circuit brings this goal closer to reality.

Scientists in Switzerland working at Forschungszentrum Jülich's Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI-9), and the Paul Scherrer Institute have used germanium (Ge) and tin (Sn) to produce a laser specifically for trial attachment and testing on a silicon wafer. The properties were subsequently measured at the Paul Scherrer Institute, showing that the GeSn compound was able to both generate laser light and amplify light signals, with the inclusion of tin being specifically important to the new device's optical performance.

"… we were able to demonstrate that the germanium-tin compound can amplify optical signals, as well as generate laser light," said Dr. Hans Sigg from the Laboratory for Micro and Nanotechnology.