Data centres can consume up to 50 times more energy per square foot of floor space than a typical office building and account for roughly 2 per cent of all electricity use in the US.

In recent years, the number of data centres has risen rapidly due to soaring demand from the likes of Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Google.

Now, a new, ultra-energy-efficient method to compensate for temperature variations that degrade photonic chips has been developed. Such chips “will form the high-speed communication backbone of future data centres and supercomputers”, according to John Conley from Oregon State University.

The circuitry in photonic chips uses photons – particles of light – rather than the electrons that course through conventional computer chips. Moving at the speed of light, photons enable the extremely rapid, energy-efficient transmission of data.

But the issue with photonic chips is that significant energy has been required to keep their temperature...