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Perhaps the most significant advantage of optical over electronic logic is reduced power consumption. This comes from the absence of [[capacitance]] in the connections between individual [[logic gate]]s. In electronics, the transmission line needs to be charged to the [[signal voltage]]. The capacitance of a transmission line is proportional to its length and it exceeds the capacitance of the transistors in a logic gate when its length is equal to that of a single gate. The charging of transmission lines is one of the main energy losses in electronic logic. This loss is avoided in optical communication where only enough energy to switch an optical transistor at the receiving end must be transmitted down a line. This fact has played a major role in the uptake of fiber optics for long distance communication but is yet to be exploited at the microprocessor level.
Besides the potential advantages of higher speed, lower power consumption and high compatibility with optical communication systems, optical transistors must satisfy a set of benchmarks before they can compete with electronics.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1038/nphoton.2009.240| url= http://ee.stanford.edu/~dabm/379.pdf|title = Are optical transistors the logical next step?| journal = Nature Photonics| volume = 4| pages = 3–5| year = 2010| last1 = Miller | first1 = D. A. B. | bibcode = 2010NaPho...4....3M| doi-access = free}}</ref> No single design has yet satisfied all these criteria whilst outperforming speed and power consumption of state of the art electronics.
The criteria include:
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