Optical Computing

Adwait R. Pande & S. M. Gulhane

Dept. of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering, J.D.I.E.T. Yavatmal, India
E-mail : [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract – Today's computers use the movement of improved computing capabilities is desirable. Optical
electrons in-and-out of transistors to do logic. Optical or computing includes the optical calculation of transforms
Photonic computing is intended to use photons or light and optical pattern matching. Emerging technologies
particles, produced by lasers or diodes, in place of also make the optical storage of data a reality.
electrons. Compare to electrons, photons are much faster –
light travels about 30 cm, or one foot, in a nanosecond – The speed of computers was achieved by
and have a higher bandwidth. miniaturizing electronic components to a very small
Most research projects focus on replacing current micron-size scale, but they are limited not only by the
computer components with optical equivalents, resulting in speed of electrons in matter (Einstein‟s principle that
an optical digital computer system processing binary data. signals cannot propagate faster than the speed of light)
This approach appears to offer best short-term prospects but also by the increasing density of interconnections
for commercial optical computing, since optical necessary to link the electronic gates on microchips. The
components could be integrated into traditional computers optical computer comes as a solution of miniaturization
to produce an optical (or) electronic hybrid. However, problem. In an optical computer, electrons are replaced
optoelectronic devices lose 30% of their energy converting
by photons, the subatomic bits of electromagnetic
electrons into photons and back. This also slows down
transmission of messages. All-optical computers eliminate radiation that make up light. Optics, which is the science
the need for optical-electrical-optical (OEO) conversions. of light, is already used in computing, most often in the
fibre-optic glass cables that currently transmit data on
I. INTRODUCTION communication networks much faster than via
traditional copper wires. Thus, optical signals might be
With today‟s growing dependence on computing the ticket for the fastest supercomputers ever. Compared
technology, the need for high performance computers to light, electronic signals in chips travel at snail speed.
(HPC) has significantly increased. Many performance Moreover, there is no such thing as a short circuit with
improvements in conventional computers are achieved light, so beams could cross with no problem after being
by miniaturizing electronic components to very small redirected by pinpoint-size mirrors in a switchboard. In
micron-size scale so that electrons need to travel only a pursuit to probe into cutting-edge research areas,
short distances within a very short time. This approach optical technology (optoelectronic, photonic devices)is
relies on the steadily shrinking trace size on microchips one of the most promising, and may eventually lead to
(i.e. the size of elements that can be „drawn‟ onto each new computing applications as a consequence of faster
chip). This has resulted in the development of Very processor speeds, as well as better connectivity and
Large Scale Integration (VLSI) technology with smaller higher bandwidth.
device dimensions and greater complexity. The smallest
dimensions of VLSI nowadays are about 0.08 mm. II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Despite the incredible progress in the development and
refinement of the basic technologies over the past The “ancient” history of optical computing is linked
decade, there is growing concern that these technologies to that of radar systems. Optical computing system
may not be capable of solving the computing problems received a great push from the invention of laser in
of even the current millennium. Applications of HPC 1960.In 1960s the first schemes for all-optical digital
and visualization technologies lead to breakthroughs in computers were proposed. In 1990s emphasis has
engineering and manufacturing in a wide range of shifted to optical interconnection of arrays of
industries. With the help of virtual product design and semiconductor smart pixels.
development, costs can be reduced; hence looking for

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In most modern computers, electrons travel was achieved by miniaturizing electronic components to
between transistor switches on metal wires or traces to a very small micron-size scale, but they are limited not
gather process and store information. The optical only by the speed of electrons in matter but also by the
computers of the future will instead use photons increasing density of interconnections necessary to link
traveling on optical fibers or thin films to perform these the electronic gates on microchips.
functions. But entirely optical computer systems are still
The optical computer comes as a solution of
far into the future. Right now scientists are focusing on
miniaturizing problem. Optical data processing can
developing hybrids by combining electronics with
perform several operations in parallel much faster and
photonics. Electro-optic hybrids were first made
easier than electrons. This parallelism helps in
possible around 1978, when researchers realized that
staggering computational power. For example a
photons could respond to electrons through certain
calculation that takes a conventional electronic
media such as lithium niobate (LiNbO3).
computer more than 11 years to complete could be
Extreme miniaturization of tiny electronic performed by an optical computer in a single hour. Any
components leads to „cross-talk‟ – signal errors that way we can realize that in an optical computer, electrons
affect the system‟s reliability. Light does not have the are replaced by photons, the subatomic bits of
time response limitations of electronics, does not need electromagnetic radiation that make up light.
insulators, and can even send dozens or hundreds of
SOME KEY OPTICAL COMPONENTS FOR
photon signal streams simultaneously using different
COMPUTING
colour frequencies. Those are immune to
electromagnetic interference, and free from electrical The major breakthroughs on optical computing
short circuits. They have low-loss transmission and have been centered on the development of micro-optic
provide large bandwidth; i.e. multiplexing capability, devices for data input.
capable of communicating several channels in parallel
1. VCSEL (VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE
without interference. They are capable of propagating
EMITTING LASER)
signals within the same or adjacent fibres with
essentially no interference or cross talk. They are VCSEL (pronounced „vixel‟) is a semiconductor
compact, lightweight, and inexpensive to manufacture, vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode that emits
as well as more facile with stored information than light in a cylindrical beam vertically from the surface of
magnetic materials. By replacing electrons and wires a fabricated wafer, and offers significant advantages
with photons, fibre optics, crystals, thin films and when compared to the edge-emitting lasers currently
mirrors, researchers are hoping to build a new used in the majority of fiber optic communications
generation of computers that work 100million times devices. The principle involved in the operation of a
faster than today‟s machines. VCSEL is very similar to those of regular lasers.

III. NEED FOR OPTICAL COMPUTING There are two special semiconductor materials
sandwiching an active layer where all the action takes
The need for optical technology stems from the fact place. But rather than reflective ends, in a VCSEL there
that today‟s computers are limited by the time response are several layers of partially reflective mirrors above
of electronic circuits. A solid transmission medium and below the active layer. Layers of semiconductors
limits both the speed and volume of signals, as well as with differing compositions create these mirrors, and
building up heat that damages components. each mirror reflects a narrow range of wavelengths back
in to the cavity in order to cause light emission at just
One of the theoretical limits on how fast a computer
one wavelength.
can function is given by Einstein‟s principle that signal
cannot propagate faster than speed of light. So to make
computers faster, their components must be smaller and
there by decrease the distance between them. This has
resulted in the development of very large scale
integration (VLSI) technology, with smaller device
dimensions and greater complexity. The smallest
dimensions of VLSI nowadays are about 0.08mm.
Despite the incredible progress in the development and
refinement of the basic technologies over the past
decade, there is growing concern that these technologies
may not be capable of solving the computing problems Fig. (a) VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting LASER)
of even the current millennium. The speed of computers (b) VCSEL Wafer

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2. SLM (SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS) again passed through a pair of lenses and sent to a
photodiode. This photodiode convert the optical signal
SLM play an important role in several technical
back to the electrical signal.
areas where the control of light on a pixel-by-pixel basis
is a key element, such as optical processing and
displays. For display purposes the desire is to have as
many pixels as possible in as small and cheap a device
as possible.
3. SMART PIXEL TECHNOLOGY
Smart pixel technology is a relatively new approach
to integrating electronic circuitry and optoelectronic
devices in a common framework. The purpose is to
leverage the advantages of each individual technology
and provide improved performance for specific
applications. Here, the electronic circuitry provides
complex functionality and programmability while the
optoelectronic devices provide high-speed switching and
compatibility with existing optical media.
4. WDM (WAVELENGTH DIVISION
MULTIPLEXING) Fig. Optical Interconnection of Circuit Boards using VCSEL
and Photodiode
Wavelength division multiplexing is a method of
sending many different wavelengths down the same IV. ADVANCES IN PHOTONIC SWITCHES
optical fiber. Using this technology, modern networks in
which individual lasers can transmit at 10 gigabits per Logic gates are the building blocks of any digital
second through the same fiber at the same time. system. An optical logic gate is a switch that controls
one light beam by another; it is ON when the device
transmits light and it is OFF when it blocks the light.
To demonstrate the AND gate in the phthalocyanine
film, two focused collinear laser beams are wave guided
through a thin film of phthalocyanine. Nanosecond
green pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used together with a
red continuous wave (cw) He-Ne beam. At the output a
narrow band filter was set to block the green beam and
Fig. A Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) allow only the He-Ne beam. Then the transmitted beam
System was detected on an oscilloscope. It was found that the
transmitted He-Ne cw beam was pulsating with a
WDM can transmit up to 32 wavelengths through a
nanosecond duration and in synchronous with the input
single fiber, but cannot meet the bandwidth
Nd:YAG nanosecond pulse. This demonstrated the
requirements of the present day communication systems.
characteristic table of an AND logic gate.
So nowadays DWDM (Dense wavelength division
multiplexing) is used. This can transmit up to 1000
wavelengths through a single fiber. That is by using this
we can improve the bandwidth efficiency.
OPTICAL INTERCONNECTION OF CIRCUIT
BOARDS
VCSEL convert the electrical signal to optical
signal when the light beams are passed through a pair of
lenses and micro mirrors. Micro mirrors are used to
direct the light beams and this light rays is passed
through a polymer waveguide which serves as the path
for transmitting data instead of copper wires in
electronic computers. Then these optical beams are Fig. Optical AND Logic Gate

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V. APPLICATIONS projects are continuing infiber optic high-speed network

systems. Research is going on for developing new laser
1. High speed communications- diodes, photo detectors, and nonlinear material studies
for faster switches. Research efforts on nanoparticle thin
The rapid growth of internet, expanding at almost film or layer studies for display devices are also in
15% per month, demands faster speeds and larger
progress. At the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
bandwidth than electronic circuits can provide. Terabits
Mumbai, efforts are in progress to generate a white light
speeds are needed to accommodate the growth rate of
source from a diode case based fiber amplifier system in
internet since in optical computers data is transmitted at
order to provide WDM communication channels.
the speed of light which is of the order of 310*8 m/sec
hence terabit speeds are attainable. IX. CONCLUSION
2. Optical crossbar interconnects are used in
asynchronous transfer modes and shared memory Research in optical computing has opened up new
multiprocessor systems. possibilities in several fields related to high performance
computing, high-speed communications. To design
3. Process satellite data. algorithms that execute applications faster,the specific
properties of optics must be considered, such as their
VI. MERITS ability to exploit massive parallelism, and global
interconnections. As optoelectronic and smart pixel
1. Optical computing is at least 1000 to 100000 times devices mature, software development will have a major
faster than today‟s silicon machines. impact in the future and the ground rules for the
2. Optical storage will provide an extremely optimized computing may have to be rewritten.
way to store data, with space requirements far lesser
than today‟s silicon chips. X. REFERENCES
3. Super-fast searches through databases. [1] Debabrata Goswami, “Article on optical
4. No short circuits, light beam can cross each other computing, optical components and storage
without interfering with each other‟s data. systems,” Resonance- Journal of science
education pp:56-71 July 2003
5. Light beams can travel in parallel and no limit to
number of packets that can travel in the photonic [2] HossinAbdeldayem, Donald. O.Frazier,
circuits. Mark.S.Paley and William.K, “Recent advances
in photonic devices for optical computing,”
6. Optical computer removes the bottleneck in the science.nasa.gov Nov 2001
present dayCommunication system
[3] McAulay, Alastair.D, “Optical computer
VII. DRAWBACKS architectures and the application of optical
concepts to next generation computers”
1. Today‟s materials require much high power to work [4] OPTOELECTRONICSWilson.J, J.F.B.Hankes
in consumer products, coming up with the right
materials may take five years or more. [5] Alain Goulet, Makoto Naruse, and Masatoshi
Ishikawa, “Simple Integration technique to
2. Optical computing using a coherent source is realize parallel optical interconnects:
simple to computeand understand, but it has many implementationof a pluggable two-dimensional
drawbacks like any imperfections or dust on the optical data link”, AppliedOptics 41, 5538 (2002)
optical components will create unwanted
interference pattern due to scattering effects.
Incoherent processing on the other hand cannot
store phase information.

VIII. FUTURE TRENDS

The Ministry of Electronics and Information

Technology (http://www.deity.gov.in/content/photonics-
development-division) has initiated a photonic
development program. Under this program some funded

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