Chromosol, a silicon chip spin-out company from Queen Mary University of London, has received investment from IP Group to commercialize a new material technology that would both drastically cut energy use and increase the speed of optical communications.

Chromosol was founded by William Gillin, a professor and the director of the Materials Research Institute at Queen Mary University, and will develop technology to allow the manipulation of light directly on silicon chips, allowing them to communicate via pulses of light rather than electrical signals. Communication between the chips will be fast while reducing power consumption.

IP Group, a developer of intellectual property-based businesses, will work closely with the university throughout the development with the provision of both commercial expertise and financing.

"We're delighted IP Group is supporting Chromosol and we look forward to working closely with them to commercialize our work,” said Gillin. "Chromosol's technology is easy to integrate and is compatible with the existing processing techniques, providing a simple solution to a growing problem."

The technology could have a big impact on the energy use of data centers used by organizations like Google and Facebook for remote storage and the processing of huge amounts of data. It is estimated that data centers now use around 3 percent of the world's generated electricity and produce about 2 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Large amounts of energy are needed to move data electrically over relatively short distances,” Gillin said. “If we can remove the need for this electrical data transfer, then the power requirements of data centers will be reduced dramatically."