The usefulness of any technology is measured by its relevance, so the development of optical computers has become one of the most popular topics today. Technicians and developers around the world are trying to achieve excellence in nano-technology, so they constantly conduct various studies. Optical computers are one of the most popular topics. All the advantages make it possible to verify their need today.
Such technologies can be found in the modern world, but their growth is inevitable in the future. Therefore, optical technologies will be discussed later.
Technology Description
Using processors as an example, you can figure out why optical computers are needed. When the time comes that there will be nowhere to reduce the process technology of the CPU, Moore's law will cease to be useful. At the moment, the possibility of an alternative technology is being developed, which consists in replacing the wires with an optical fiber that conducts light.
The semiconductor system for creating technology is a little outdated, as it obeys the laws of physics associated with electric current. It is the ordered movement of particles that forces the electrons to move in a continuous stream, which leads to the loss of a certain amount of energy, which manifests itself in heat generation and electromagnetic radiation.
Unlike semiconductors, light is capable of transmitting a huge amount of information and much faster, and losses will be minimized. For optical computers, this is just a godsend.
Principle of operation
Create optical computers will not be particularly difficult. They will come during testing, since optical fibers still need to be made to work.
The creation of optical computers radically changes the very concept of programming, which is based on a sequence of zeros and ones. On the other hand, the data transfer process will be faster if you use light pulses rather than a binary system.
At the moment, the creation of an optical computer device is still at the planning stage. In the meantime, the production of joint technologies will be established - lighting and analog.
Photon Definition
After finding out how optics are used, you need to understand what a photon is. A photon is a particle that has no mass and exists exclusively in a vacuum. The photon itself does not have an electric charge, but due to its stability it can accelerate an electric charge. This is what a photon is.
One of its advantages is the speed of propagation. It is very high and it is comparable to the speed of light. Photonic computers operate on the same principle.
Technology application
To perform all the necessary processes, laser printers, scanners, CDs use light. Optical technologies are able to provide high-speed connection to networks, analog devices lag behind, and noticeably.
Various laser operations are used to increase the life of the equipment, improving its strength, ductility and surface. This technology is widely used in devices that read barcodes.
Lighting technologies are also applicable in the field of medicine. For example, in devices for lighting the internal cavity of a person. Also, fiber optics are used for high-speed movie shooting.
Optics advantage
Light is capable of transmitting information in large volumes and at incredible speed. But there are many other advantages of optical computers that will be applied in the future. Perhaps this will happen very soon.
The use of optical technologies makes it possible to improve any technique, since the equipment consumes less energy. It also helps to reduce heat.
In modern processors, the main role is played by the technological process, and the finer it is, the higher the productivity. On modern GPUs, the reduced manufacturing process affects power consumption. But when the reduction in process technology reaches its limit, engineers will look for a similar way to increase productivity. Therefore, optical technology will replace semiconductors. Many researchers are already working on this.
The advantages of an optical computer are that the information is presented in the form of photons generated by lasers or diodes. If you use photons, then the achievement of high-speed transmission of information is provided. To use additional features to provide data input and output, you can use the third dimension.
A transparent medium is an ideal place where data encoded by an optical beam can be processed without energy. Due to zero environmental radiation, the optical system is able to protect the computer in case of an attempt to intercept information. The optical system also has protection against extraneous electromagnetic interference.
Optical fiber cables are becoming cheaper every day, which makes it more relevant than analogue ones.
Available optical technology
One of the new discoveries in the world of optics is a metal lens. The created flat lens, which consists of bleach, paint and quartz, can completely replace glass in the future. The reason for using a metal lens is to completely eliminate distortion in microscopic studies. The fact is that ordinary glass is not able to provide maximum clarity in one layer. Therefore, researchers have to use several layers of glass lenses.
The same system is used in the lenses of cameras and camcorders. But due to several lenses that are located at a distance from each other, the equipment reaches large sizes.
Scientists at Harvard University managed to create a flat lens. It is able to completely eliminate image defects, since there is no aberration in it. Transparent quartz and titanium dioxide have become the main components of the lens. A quartz plate placed millions of columns of titanium on itself. It is they who cut the beam of light into pieces, providing proper focus.
Optical-based microchips
Light communication is one of the main alternatives to the technology of the future. Electric wires have one significant drawback - the limitation of data transfer speed. In addition, this requires a considerable amount of energy, which entails overheating.
Replacing an ordinary wire with an optical one will lead to the fact that data will be transferred faster. And they will also use parallel transmission in different colors.
The first tangible progress towards optical technology was demonstrated in 2015, when researchers described a solution that would overcome the limitations of semiconductors. In an article in Nature magazine, researchers described in detail how a microprocessor works by providing photographs and giving it the name Zero Change.
Thus, using a silicon base in microcircuits, you can use photonics. The most common photonics application is 4G wireless internet connection.
It is microchips of optical origin that provide such a high data transfer rate.
Optical fiber in the future
Since the requirements for communication quality are increasing every year, its performance should be at the proper level. The first in line is the deployment of a 5G wireless network.
So how much available data can be transmitted over optical fiber? 40% is planned to be allocated only for connecting to optical computers. The remaining 60% will be consumed by users of smartphones, tablets and other portable devices. This is a rough plan for the upcoming 5G connection.
Fiber optic cables are capable of transmitting information up to 100 Gbit / s using photon technology.
Barrier in restrictions
By 2020, data transfer rates of up to 1000 Tbps will be available to humanity. This is done in order to fully meet the requirements of a wide band. But this task is significantly slowed down, since today there are no technologies that can overcome the barrier. More acute is the question of the possibility of transmitting information over long distances.
Only a cable with an optical fiber in one core is capable of this, at which the speed reaches almost 10 Tbps. But it is capable of transmitting only one photon signal stream.
Multimode cables that allow several light signals to pass in parallel can operate without distortion only at a limited distance of several meters.
In a multicore cable optimization race, Japanese engineers broke all speed records, reaching a limit of 43 Tbps. There was only one laser in this cable.
Conclusion
Fully optical computers are the dream of the future, but for now only technologies in symbiosis are available that ideally combine optics and analogs.
Analog technologies are significantly limited in their technical capabilities, because they work in a continuous stream, that is, almost uncontrollably. This leads to large signal losses and energy costs. Such manipulations lead to strong heating of the electronics.
The use of optical technology will be a breakthrough in the field of data transmission. Plus, the cost of equipment with such capabilities will not be higher than ordinary equipment.
Now a similar example is the presence of smartphones, since their processors and microcircuits in them are built on a symbiosis of two technologies that allow combining small size and a "smart" system. It is possible that soon we will forget about what semiconductors are, as they will be replaced by optical devices.