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Students! Thinking about your future?
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section of our site made just for you. Tons of career
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Optical Computers
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What are
Optical Computers?
The computers we use today use transistors and
semiconductors to control electricity.
Computers of the future may utilize crystals and
metamaterials to control light. Optical computers make use
of light particles called photons.
NASA scientists
are working to solve the need for computer speed using
light
Light travels at 186,000
miles per second. That's 982,080,000 feet per second -- or
11,784,960,000 inches. In a billionth of a second, one
nanosecond, photons of light travel just a bit less than a
foot, not considering resistance in air or of an optical
fiber strand or thin film. Just right for doing things
very quickly in microminiaturized computer chips.
Dr. Donald Frazier monitors a
blue laser light
used with electro-optical materials
"Entirely optical computers
are still some time in the future," says Dr. Frazier, "but
electro-optical hybrids have been possible since 1978,
when it was learned that photons can respond to electrons
through media such as lithium niobate. Newer advances have
produced a variety of thin films and optical fibers that
make optical interconnections and devices practical. We
are focusing on thin films made of organic molecules,
which are more light sensitive than inorganics.
Organics can perform
functions such as switching, signal processing and
frequency doubling using less power than inorganics.
Inorganics such as silicon used with organic materials let
us use both photons and electrons in current hybrid
systems, which will eventually lead to all-optical
computer systems."
"What we are accomplishing in the lab today will result in
development of super-fast, super-miniaturized,
super-lightweight and lower cost optical computing and
optical communication devices and systems," Frazier
explained.
Article and image from:
Science@NASA
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Photonic Crystals
Researchers at the University of Alberta are
developing photonic crystals designed to replace
transistors in computers of the future.
All-Optical Computers Could Soon be a Part of Our
Life
Optical Computer Made from Frozen Light
NASA-funded research at Harvard University, Cambridge,
Mass., that literally stops light in its tracks, may
someday lead to breakneck-speed computers that shelter
enormous amounts of data from hackers.
IBM
milestone demonstrates optical device to advance computer
performance
IBM announced that its
researchers have built a device capable of delaying the
flow of light on a silicon chip, a requirement to one day
allow computers to utilize optical communications to
achieve better performance.
Researchers have known that the use of optical instead of
electrical signals for transferring data within a computer
chip might result in significant performance enhancements
since light signals can carry more information faster.
Yet, “buffering” or temporarily holding data on the chip
is critical in controlling the flow of information, so a
means for doing so with light signals is necessary. The
work announced today outlines just such a means for
buffering optical signals on a chip.
Era
of High-Speed Optical Computing is Approaching
Physicists at Oregon State University
have discovered a way to manipulate the transmission
of optical signals in tiny wires, dramatically
slowing, stopping or even speeding them up to
velocities faster than the speed of light – a major
advance that could open the door to a new era of
computing and information processing based on
optics.
Optical
Computer Links
Optical Computers
Optical Components and Storage Systems
How They Work and Why We Will See Them
Light shines in quantum-computing arena - optical device
produces quantum computing
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