A new high-speed integrated circuit to reliably transmit data in the demanding environment of the world’s largest physics experiment is the fastest of its kind.

This new "link-on-chip" — or LOC serializer circuit — was designed by physicists at Southern Methodist University in Dallas as a component for use in a key experiment of the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Europe.

The miniscule SMU LOC serializer was designed for ATLAS, which is the largest particle detector at the Large Hadron Collider.

An image of an event in which a microscopic-black-hole was produced in the collision of two protons in a computer generated image of the ATLAS detector. (Credit: Copyright CERN)

The LHC, as it’s called, is a massive, high-tech tunnel about 100 meters underground. Within the LHC’s circular, 17-mile-long tunnel, protons traveling at high energy are smashed together and broken apart so physicists worldwide can analyze the resulting particle shower detailed in a flood of electronic data.

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