Light-Based Computing Promises Super Speeds

A computer that uses light - rather than electrons - for processing could be faster, smaller and use less power. Researchers say they've found a way to make an optical computer without the major limitations of previous models.

Ultimately, everything a computer does is broken down into a series of calculations. In traditional computer processors, these work through a series of physical "logic gates" that either do or don't pass through an electrical signal. This creates a positive or negative electrical charge, which represents either a 0 or 1 in a single bit of data.

Several researchers have worked on the idea of an optical computer that uses light rather than the electrical signal. The idea is that light not only moves faster than the electrons used in traditional computing, but isn't limited by electrical resistance. That means it takes less power to operate.

Previous attempts to create optical computers have been relatively bulky and only work on specific tasks, making them an inadequate alternative to traditional computers.

Spin Direction Determines Data

A team led by Yi Zhang at Finland's Aalto University say they've found a way through these problems with a new design of optical computer. They've used circularly polarized light which, in simplified terms, manipulated the light beam to "spin" in a clockwise or anti-clockwise manner. The direction of the spin ultimately corresponds to the 0 or 1. (Source: newscientist.com)

The team's design means each "logic gate" is just 0.65 nanometers thick. A nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter. The design is not only more practical than previous optical computers, but also means it can be used for any computing task.

One Million Times Faster

How well the design would work in a real-world computer has yet to be confirmed, as have the cost implications. However, in principle the design could mean processing data a million times quicker than with existing tech. (Source: scitechdaily.com)

At the moment the optical computer only replicates the traditional approach to computer processing data where a single "core" of a processor can only handle one bit of data at any precise moment.

The team behind it say they'll now explore how the optical technology could adapt to parallel processing (where it performs multiple calculations at once) or even quantum computing (where a single gate could correspond to multiple states simultaneously).

What's Your Opinion?

Are you excited by this technology? Would a computer running a million times faster really make any difference to your experience? Do you think we'll ever see optical computer in mainstream use?