Optical computer reaches clock speeds of up to 100 GHz

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have unveiled an all-optical computer capable of reaching clock speeds exceeding 100 GHz. They presented the news in a study pre-published on arXiv on January 10.

With the new technology, it will be possible to revolutionize industries that require real-time data processing, could mark the beginning of a new era in ultrafast computing.

A computer’s clock speed determines how quickly it can run programs and applicationsbeing a critical factor for performance. Historically, clock speeds have increased steadily, following Moore’s Law, whereby the number of transistors on chips would double, for the same cost, every two years.

Related News:

However, speeds stagnated around 5 GHz in the early 2000s due to two significant obstacles.

The first is Dennard scaling, which suggested that shrinking transistors would maintain efficiency. However, smaller transistors leak current, causing higher power consumption. Simultaneously, the von Neumann bottleneck limited the speed of data transfer between memory and processors.

With new technology, both challenges can be solved.

Optical Computer

According to the study, first 100GHz all-optical computer gets around limitations by using light instead of electricity to run. At the heart of this new computer is an optical implementation of a recurrent neural network. The device operates entirely in the optical domain, using laser pulses to process data.

The optical cavity is a key component, acting as a memory and computational layer. Here, light signals are recirculated and manipulated at speeds determined by the frequency of the laser pulses.

This architecture allows the optical computer to perform tasks such as signal classification, time series forecasting and image generation with unmatched speed and efficiency.

Impacts

Such a computer could revolutionize high-speed telecommunications, ultrafast imaging and generative AI. Autonomous vehicles can benefit from this technology for split-second decision making, increasing reliability.

The researchers plan to integrate this technology into compact, scalable systems using advanced materials such as thin-film lithium niobate. E The next challenge is to create a consumer-friendly all-optical computer with speeds of 100 GHz.

Fonte: arXiv.