What is a Photon Processor?
Photonic computer is a new type of computer that performs digital operations, logical operations, information storage, and processing with optical signals. It consists of lasers, optical reflectors, lenses, filters and other optical components and equipment. The laser beam enters the array of reflectors and lenses for information processing. Photons are used instead of electrons, and optical operations are used instead of electrical operations. The parallelism and high speed of light naturally determine that the photonic computer has a strong parallel processing capability and has a very high computing speed. Photonic computers also have similar fault tolerance to the human brain. When a component in the system is damaged or erroneous, it does not affect the final calculation result. Information distortion and distortion caused by photons transmitted in optical media are extremely small, energy consumption and heat dissipation during optical transmission and conversion are extremely low, and the requirements for environmental conditions are much lower than those of electronic computers. With the combination of modern optics, computer technology and microelectronic technology, in the near future, photonic computers will become a universal tool for human beings.
- Chinese name
- Photon computer
- Foreign name
- photon computer
- Nature
- High speed, high performance, high precision
- Features
- Using light as a carrier, the calculation speed is extremely high
- Short name
- PHC
- Research institute
- Bell Labs
- Photonic computer is a new type of computer that performs digital operations, logical operations, information storage, and processing with optical signals. It consists of lasers, optical reflectors, lenses, filters and other optical components and equipment. The laser beam enters the array of reflectors and lenses for information processing. Photons are used instead of electrons, and optical operations are used instead of electrical operations. The parallelism and high speed of light naturally determine that the photonic computer has a strong parallel processing capability and has a very high computing speed. Photonic computers also have fault tolerance similar to that of the human brain. When a component in the system is damaged or erroneous, it does not affect the final calculation result. Information distortion and distortion caused by photons transmitted in optical media are extremely small, energy consumption and heat dissipation during optical transmission and conversion are extremely low, and the requirements for environmental conditions are much lower than those of electronic computers. With the combination of modern optics, computer technology and microelectronic technology, in the near future, photonic computers will become a universal tool for human beings.
A brief introduction to photon computers
- Light
- In early 1990, Bell Labs in the United States built the world's first photonic computer. Photonic computer is a new type of computer that performs digital operations, logical operations, information storage, and processing with optical signals. The basic component of a photonic computer is an integrated optical path, which requires a laser, lens, and nuclear mirror. [1]
- Because photons are faster than electrons, they can run up to one trillion times. Its storage capacity is tens of thousands of times that of modern computers, and it can also recognize and synthesize languages, graphics and gestures. [1]
- Many countries have invested heavily in research on photonic computers. With the combination of modern optics, computer technology and microelectronic technology, in the near future, photonic computers will become a universal tool for human beings. [1]
Photon computer advantage
- Without electrons, using photons as a carrier for transmitting information, it is possible to overcome the limitations mentioned earlier and make computers with better performance. The advantages of using photons as a carrier for transmitting information are as follows: [1]
- Photon computer
- Photons are not charged
- There is no electromagnetic field interaction between them. In the free space, several beams of light propagate in parallel and cross each other. There is no interference between them. Ten million beams can pass through an optical element at the same time without affecting each other. A 20 × 20c optical system can provide 5 × 10 ^ 5 parallel transmission information channels; a good quality lens can provide 10 ^ 8 information channels. If optical waveguides are used for transmission, the optical waveguides can also cross each other, as long as their crossing angle is greater than about 10 °, there will be no significant cross coupling. The aforementioned properties are also called the parallelism of optical signal transmission. [1]
- Photons have no rest mass
- It can propagate in a semi-vacuum or medium, and its propagation speed is much faster (about 1000 times) than that of electrons in a wire. That is, photons carry information faster than electrons. Photonic interconnections between chips are not affected by electromagnetic interference, and the density of interconnections can be very high. For interconnection in free space, the number of connection lines per square millimeter can reach 50,000, and if optical waveguides are used for interconnection, there can be 10,000. Therefore, using photons as an information processing carrier will create a computer with a very high computing speed. Theoretically, it can reach 100 billion times per second and the information storage capacity can reach 10 ^ 18 bits. Such computers are called photonic computers. [1]
- Super high-speed computing speed
- Photonic computers have strong parallel processing capabilities, so they have higher computing speeds. The propagation speed of electrons is 593km / s, while the propagation speed of photons is 3 × 10 ^ 5km / s. For electronic computers, electrons are carriers of information. They can only be conducted through some insulated wires. In the best case, the speed of electrons in solids is far less than the speed of light. Although the computing speed of electronic computers continues to increase, its capacity limit is limited; in addition, as the assembly density continues to increase, it will make conductors The electromagnetic interaction between them is constantly increasing, and the heat emitted is also gradually increasing, which limits the operating speed of the electronic computer; while the photon computer runs much faster than the electronic computer and requires lower environmental conditions than the electronic computer Much more. [1]
- Very large-scale information storage capacity
- Compared with electronic computers, photonic computers have a very large-scale information storage capacity. Photonic computers have a very ideal source of optical radiation, a laser. Photons can be conducted without wires, and even if they intersect, they will not have the slightest influence on each other. Photonic computers have no wires to transmit information in parallel channels. The density is virtually unlimited. A penny coin-sized mirror has a capacity to pass information many times that of existing telephone cable channels around the world. [1]
- Low energy consumption and low heat emission
- Is an energy-saving product. The drive of the photon computer only needs a small part of the driving energy of the electronic computer of the same specification. This not only reduces the power consumption, greatly reduces the heat emitted by the machine, but also provides convenience for the miniaturization and portable development of the photon computer condition. Scientists are experimenting with combining traditional electronic converters and photons to create a "hybrid" computer that can process information faster and overcome the internal overheating problem of a giant electronic computer. [1]
The main components of photon computer
- The photon computer consists of optical elements and equipment such as optical mirrors, lenses, and filters. There are two types of photon computers: analog and digital. The characteristic of the analog photon computer is that the two-dimensionality of the optical image is directly used, so the structure is relatively simple. Such photonic computers have been used for satellite image processing and pattern recognition. The United States previously proposed a Star Wars plan to develop such a computer to identify high-speed missile images. There are many kinds of structural schemes of digital photonic computers. Among them, there are two that are considered to have great development value. One is to use the mature structure in electronic computers. Only optical logic elements are used to replace electronic logic elements, and photonic interconnection is used to replace wires interconnection. The other is a brand-new, parallel processing (optical neural network) -based structure. In the 1980s, the optical information processor was created. The digital light processor was also successful. It consists of lasers, lenses, and prisms. Although the photonic computer has been successful, at present, the photonic computer cannot keep up with the electronic computer in terms of functions and computing speed. The main computer we use is the electronic computer, and the electronic computer will be developed in the future. However, in terms of development potential, it is clear that photonic computers are much larger than electronic computers. Especially in terms of image processing, target recognition, and artificial intelligence, photonic computers will play far greater roles than electronic computers in the future. [1]
Development status of photon computers
- Bell Labs announced that it has developed the world's first optical computer. It uses gallium arsenide optical switches with a computing speed of 1 billion times per second. Although this optical computer is still some distance from the theoretical optical computer, it has shown strong vitality. Humans have been using optical cables to transmit data for more than 20 years, and optical disc technology that uses optical signals to store information has also been widely used. However, to make a true photonic computer, the basic element of an optical transistor that can use one beam to control the change of another beam needs to be developed. Generally speaking, although scientists can implement such a device, the required conditions such as temperature It is still relatively harsh, and it is still difficult to enter the practical stage. [1]
- An optical technology company in Massachusetts, U.S.A., a company of light-guided light-emitting elements, is working with NASA's Marshall Space Center to develop a "light" circuit board for optical computers to control the movement of photons. breakthrough. In May 1999, a research team of more than 20 people led by Singaporean scientist He Shengzhong who worked at Northwestern University in the United States developed a world's smallest photonic directional coupler using nano-scale semiconductor lasers. Light is decomposed and controlled in the semiconductor layer. [2]
Photonic Computer R & D and Manufacturing
- Physicists at the University of Bath are working on a project to develop a computer that can use photons instead of traditional electrons to operate. [1]
- The project was initiated by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, with a total investment of £ 820,000. This research will advance the development of photonic physics and also give physicists an opportunity to observe the world at the atomic level. [1]
- In the past forty years, Moore's Law has been exerting its power. Chip manufacturers have made their products smaller and smaller, so that the interaction between the transistors will have a serious impact. So engineers began to focus on photons, wanting to use photons to transmit information. [1]
- They use a new type of photonic crystal fiber as a transmission device, and the loss of the new material is much smaller than that of traditional light. "If successful, this will be a revolution in computer technology for nearly fifty years," said project leader Dr. Benabid. [1]
- Photonic Computers Photonic Computers-Computer Outlook
- I believe that people who read this article already have a certain understanding of PC. I will not say much about the past of PC. Moore's Law completely grasps the future we can meet, and the failure of Moore's Law will appear in 0.2nm process. When making the chip, it was already one atom in diameter. But before or after a short time, photonic computers will replace electronic computers. At that time, photonic computers were as popular as the electronic computers we use now, so my prediction for the future PC is based on photonic computers. : PC will be divided into two branches, one is desktop, desktop will not be eliminated, it will continue to occupy the majority of the market with high performance price ratio. The current PDA will be the prototype of another branch, it will even eliminate the laptop, for reasons I will talk about below. (The computers mentioned below refer to photonic computers unless otherwise specified. ] [2]
- Let me talk about the desktop in the future. The desktop will not disappear because of the extreme development of the PC. On the contrary, it can better meet the development needs of the market than any other model. The desktop will be high-performance and low-price. On the road of development, the entire architecture of the photon desktop computer will replace the current electrical signal with a light signal. The light signal is triggered by the input device, transmitted to the CPU for processing, and then output. In fact, the principle is the same as the current electronic computer, except that all communications are completed by optical signals. Below is a simple prediction of each accessory. [2]
- CPU: As the core of a photonic computer, it will still be developed and researched as an independent product. As for its material, it should be a material with a large storage capacity, which will become quite cheap after mass production. [2]
- Motherboard: Or the optical signal generator or transmitter is more appropriate, but this object may disappear. In the future, the motherboard will no longer be as important as the current motherboard, because the optical signal generation may be completed in the power supply, and the optical signal transmission path can be achieved simply by connecting the CPU with other objects. There is no longer a reason for the motherboard to exist. [2]
- Hard disk and memory: The hard disk in the photonic computer will complete the work of the current memory and hard disk, and the memory will disappear. Now that the principle of the computer has been changed, the processor can directly read, run, and process data on the high-speed hard disk. However, the speed of the existing optical storage is really impossible, so the current optical storage will only be used as a cheap backup or copy transfer device in the future. The new memory will be a light-transmissive liquid memory. Data is directly recorded on each atom, and high-speed atoms are used to achieve high-speed reading of data, replacing the memory. [2]
- Graphics card and display: Graphics card will be integrated with the display, or disappear. The current LCD display is the prototype of the future display. The future display will be a dotless liquid crystal display. It is also an ultra-thin display like the current display. There will be a substance that will emit light when stimulated. Each atom will be used as a light-emitting unit to display graphics to achieve dotless display. [2]
- Now desktop photonic computers in the future have basically come into line, and other accessories are also DIY according to their own needs just like today's PCs. Another branch of the future PC is the PDA of the future. Now the PDA is already a very good concept, but it is really at the beginning of development and it is difficult to form a climate. In theory, only if the technology is high enough, all the originals can be integrated on one chip, so the future PDA will start from this point, and it will also be highly integrated and portable and become another branch of the PC. Said it is a branch of the PC, because it must first integrate all the functions of a laptop computer, it will also integrate the functions of current digital cameras, digital video cameras, GPS, etc. In addition, it also needs to achieve instant communication functions, just like current mobile phones . [2]
- The size of the PDA in the future should be a little smaller than the current mobile phone. You can see that the PDA is likely to be the same as the current mobile phone, with only a few simple keys and a small color screen. But don't underestimate it, it can realize all the functions of a laptop. A projection screen projector will be integrated on the PDA. The projection screen can form an image in the air without any other items. The PDA can fully implement the sound control function. In case of need, it can also display a full-size keyboard through the projector. You can implement keyboard input on this projection keyboard. [2]