19-06-2012, 12:03 PM
OPTICAL COMPUTING
Introduction
Using light, instead of electric power, for performing computations.
This choice is motivated by several features that light has.
Optical computing technology is, in general, developing in two directions.
1. Electro optical hybrids
2. all functional operations in optical mode.
Optical Computer
An optical computer (also called a photonic computer) is a device that uses the PHOTONS
An optical computer, besides being much faster than an electronic one, might also be smaller.
Instead of transistors, such a computer will have TRANSPHASORS
Wavelength Division Multiplexing \
Wavelength division multiplexing is a method of sending many different wavelengths down the same optical fiber.
WDM can transmit up to 32 wavelengths through a single fiber.
Nowadays DWDM (Dense wavelength division multiplexing) is used.
Merits
Optical computing is at least 1000 to 100000 times faster than today’s silicon machines.
Optical storage will provide an extremely optimized way to store data, with space requirements far lesser than today’s silicon chips.
No short circuits, light beam can cross each other without interfering with each other’s data.
Higher performance
Higher parallelism
Less heat is released
Less noise
Less loss in communication
Conclusion
Research in optical computing has opened up new possibilities in several fields related to high performance computing, high-speed communications. To design algorithms that execute applications faster ,the specific properties of optics must be considered, such as their ability to exploit massive parallelism, and global interconnections. As optoelectronic and smart pixel devices mature, software development will have a major impact in the future and the ground rules for the computing may have to be rewritten.
Introduction
Using light, instead of electric power, for performing computations.
This choice is motivated by several features that light has.
Optical computing technology is, in general, developing in two directions.
1. Electro optical hybrids
2. all functional operations in optical mode.
Optical Computer
An optical computer (also called a photonic computer) is a device that uses the PHOTONS
An optical computer, besides being much faster than an electronic one, might also be smaller.
Instead of transistors, such a computer will have TRANSPHASORS
Wavelength Division Multiplexing \
Wavelength division multiplexing is a method of sending many different wavelengths down the same optical fiber.
WDM can transmit up to 32 wavelengths through a single fiber.
Nowadays DWDM (Dense wavelength division multiplexing) is used.
Merits
Optical computing is at least 1000 to 100000 times faster than today’s silicon machines.
Optical storage will provide an extremely optimized way to store data, with space requirements far lesser than today’s silicon chips.
No short circuits, light beam can cross each other without interfering with each other’s data.
Higher performance
Higher parallelism
Less heat is released
Less noise
Less loss in communication
Conclusion
Research in optical computing has opened up new possibilities in several fields related to high performance computing, high-speed communications. To design algorithms that execute applications faster ,the specific properties of optics must be considered, such as their ability to exploit massive parallelism, and global interconnections. As optoelectronic and smart pixel devices mature, software development will have a major impact in the future and the ground rules for the computing may have to be rewritten.