Optical computing

Optical computers are computers or computing engines, operate completely or partially with optical elements instead of today's popular electronic components. Here come optoelectronic elements or passive optical non-linear elements are used.

Reason for the growing need for the use of optical systems in the computing technique is founded by Moore's Law compound crisis.

Pros and Cons

The use of optical systems in the computing technology offers several advantages over conventional electronics:

  • Almost loss-free transmission over long distances
  • High transfer speed (about ten times the speed of electronic connections)
  • High bandwidth ( for example, through the use of wavelength division multiplexing )
  • Free-space optical links allow direct connection and three-dimensional compounds

In contrast, the increased cost results in the production and integration of optical elements into existing systems will have higher production costs.

Applications of optical interconnects

  • Connection of modules, such as Computer with computer
  • Connection of printed circuit boards, e.g., in arithmetic units
  • Connection of components on printed circuit boards, e.g., CPU with RAM
  • Connections to the integrated circuits,

While the connection of components and circuit boards today is already used, connections to and in integrated circuits are still in development.

Principles of optoelectronic data processing

It can be integrated into electronic systems optical connection and / or processing units. Light serves as information carrier, the logical switching operations are controlled electronically.

This method is particularly suitable for the distribution of the clock in a system, which also leads to a minimization of the clock skew.

Principles of optical data processing

Here are primarily passive optical elements are used. Light is also used here as an information carrier, but the switching operations carried out by control light beams which change the refractive index of the nonlinear optical materials., Such components have similar properties such as electronic transistors.

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