Optical computing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:25, 2 August 2022

Revision as of 03:14, 14 August 2022

Line 1:

{{short description|Computer that uses photons or light waves}}

'''Optical computing''' or '''photonic computing''' uses [[light waveswave]]s produced by [[laser]]s or incoherent sources for [[data processing]], data storage or data communication for [[computing]]. For decades, photons[[photon]]s have shown promise to enable a higher [[Bandwidth (signal processing)|bandwidth]] than the [[electron]]s used in conventional computers (see [[optical fiber]]s).

Most research projects focus on replacing current computer components with optical equivalents, resulting in an optical [[digital computer]] system processing [[binary data]]. This approach appears to offer the best short-term prospects for commercial optical computing, since optical components could be integrated into traditional computers to produce an optical-electronic hybrid. However, [[optoelectronic]] devices consume 30% of their energy converting electronic energy into photons and back; this conversion also slows the transmission of messages. All-optical computers eliminate the need for optical-electrical-optical (OEO) conversions, thus reducing electrical [[power consumption]].<ref>{{cite book |first=D.D. |last=Nolte |title=Mind at Light Speed: A New Kind of Intelligence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9lB-REWP5EC&pg=PA34 |date=2001 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-0501-6 |page=34}}</ref>

Application-specific devices, such as [[synthetic-aperture radar]] (SAR) and [[optical correlator]]s, have been designed to use the principles of optical computing. Correlators can be used, for example, to detect and track objects,<ref>{{cite book |title=Optical Computing: A Survey for Computer Scientists |chapter=Chapter 3: Optical Image and Signal Processing |last=Feitelson |first=Dror G. |date=1988 |publisher=MIT Press |___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-262-06112-4 }}</ref> and to classify serial time-___domain optical data.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=S. K. |last2=Goda |first2=K.|last3=Fard |first3=A. M. |last4=Jalali |first4=B.|title= Optical time-___domain analog pattern correlator for high-speed real-time image recognition |journal=Optics Letters |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=220–2 |date=2011 |doi= 10.1364/ol.36.000220|pmid=21263506 |bibcode=2011OptL...36..220K |s2cid=15492810 |url=https://semanticscholar.org/paper/a32f6fd548f77c47c869d39a84c6a0015c48a562 }}</ref>

Line 76:

===Computing by xeroxing on transparencies===

This approach uses a Xerox machine and transparent sheets for performing computations.<ref>{{cite conference|last=Head|first=Tom|title= Parallel Computing by Xeroxing on Transparencies|conference= Algorithmic Bioprocesses|date= 2009|pages=631–637|publisher=Springer|doi=10.1007/978-3-540-88869-7_31}}</ref> [[Boolean satisfiability problem#3-satisfiability|k-SAT problem]] with n variables, m clauses and at most k variables per clause has been solved in 3 steps<ref>{{Citation |title=Computing by xeroxing on transparencies |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DeXPB3RU8Y |language=en |access-date=2022-08-14}}</ref>:

* Firstly all 2^n possible assignments of n variables have been generated by performing n xerox copies.