Optical Computer

[Hervé]

Siberian Scientists Make Step Toward Building Faster Optical Computer (http://sputniknews.com/science/20160104/1032651367/computer-russian-scientists-photonic.html)


Tech (http://sputniknews.com/science/)09:36 04.01.2016
(updated 10:07 04.01.2016)


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© Flickr/ Carl Drougge


Russian scientists from the Siberian Institute of Geology and Mineralogy have succeeded in growing modified diamonds, in what is a step closer to faster computers run on light, the head of the institute said Monday.

NOVOSIBIRSK (Sputnik) — Optical computing, also called photonic computing, uses photons in light beams to transfer information rather than slower electric current.

"We have learned to grow diamond crystals with germanium defect centers. This material is key to building next-generation computers, so called photon computers," Institute’s Director Nikolai Pokhilenko told reporters.


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© Flickr/ Penn State


Transformation optics devices that perform diverse, simple functions can be integrated together to build complex photonic systems for optical communications, imaging, computing, and sensing

Pokhilenko explained that processors in optical computers would run around 10 million times faster than in the existing digital computers.

Siberian scientists can now insert germanium atoms into the diamond lattice – its crystal structure – composed of carbon atoms to create germanium centers. This will allow to replace existing silicon and gallium arsenide microchips run on electrons by those using light.

[conk]

Remember the projections of organic computing? Biological devices? I always envisioned little algae running around playing tag, turning switches on and off. ;)

[Sunny-side-up]

Remember the projections of organic computing? Biological devices? I always envisioned little algae running around playing tag, turning switches on and off. ;)

Hmm? remember that DNA is supposedly photonic, so is that your Biological devices component?

Mr Veller said in one of his vids that some chips already emit a blue light, and said light helps separate computers communicate, even if they are switched off 0,o

Mr RAM is still saying that water is has the greatest capacity for storage!
So just look at what we can compute, both individually and collectively :sun:

[DeDukshyn]

Mr RAM is still saying that water is has the greatest capacity for storage!


After contemplating the finding's in Emoto's work with water, I pretty much concluded that our oceans must be the vastest reserve of information available on Earth -- if only there was a way to tap into it and translate it ...

[Sunny-side-up]

Mr RAM is still saying that water is has the greatest capacity for storage!


After contemplating the finding's in Emoto's work with water, I pretty much concluded that our oceans must be the vastest reserve of information available on Earth -- if only there was a way to tap into it and translate it ...

Hi DeDukshyn perhaps we do, and in greater depth than we realise!

Sea's, don't forget our atmosphere .

[Hervé]

Moscow physicists develop cooling system for optoelectronic processors of the future (http://tass.ru/en/science/850375)


ITAR-TASS (http://tass.ru/en/science/850375) Science & Space January 18, 17:02 UTC+3


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© Marina Lystseva/TASS


Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have found a solution to the problem of overheating of optoelectronic microprocessors, the institute said in a press release.

"These processors will be able to function tens of thousands time faster than the ones used today", MIPT said.

The speed of multicore and manycore microprocessors, which are already used in high-performance computer systems, depends not so much on the speed of an individual core, but rather on the time it takes for data to be transferred between the cores. The electrical copper interconnects used in microprocessors today are fundamentally limited in bandwidth, and they cannot be used to maintain the continuing growth of the processor performance. In other words, doubling the number of cores will not double the processing power.

Leading companies in the semiconductor industry, such as IBM, Oracle, Intel, and HP, see the only solution to this problem in switching from electronics to photonics, and they are currently investing billions of dollars into this. Replacing electrons with photons will mean that large amounts of data will be able to be transferred between processor cores almost instantly, which in turn will mean that the processor performance will be nearly proportional to the number of cores.

However, due to diffraction, photonic components are not as easy to scale down as electronic components. Their dimensions cannot be smaller than the size approximately equal to the light wavelength (~ 1 micrometer or 1000 nanometers), but transistors will soon be as small as 10 nanometers. This fundamental problem can be solved by switching from bulk waves to surface waves, which are known as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs).

The main difficulty that scientists face is the fact that SPPs are absorbed by metal, which is a key material in plasmonics. This effect is similar to resistance in electronics, where the energy of electrons is lost and converted into heat when current passes through a resistor. The heating power per surface unit of the active plasmonic waveguide with loss compensation exceeds 10 kW/cm2, which is twice as high as the intensity of solar radiation at the surface of the Sun.


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© MIPT press service


Dmitry Fedyanin and Andrey Vyshnevy, researchers at MIPT's Laboratory of Nanooptics and Plasmonics, have found a solution to this problem. They have demonstrated that using high-performance thermal interfaces, i.e. layers of thermally conductive materials placed between the chip and the cooling system to ensure efficient heat removal from the chip.

Based on the results of numerical simulations, Fedyanin and Vyshnevy concluded that if an optoelectronic chip with active plasmonic waveguides is placed in air, its temperature will increase by several hundred degrees Celsius, which will cause the device to malfunction. Multi-layered thermal interfaces of nano-and micrometer thickness combined with simple cooling systems can reduce the temperature of the chip from several hundred degrees to approximately ten degrees above the ambient temperature. This opens the prospects for the implementation of high-performance optoelectronic microprocessors in a wide range of applications, ranging from supercomputers to compact electronic devices.

The study was supported by a grant of the Russian Science Foundation and the MIPT Project 5-100 program. The research paper was published in ACS Photonics.

[Hervé]

Internet by light promises to leave Wi-Fi eating dust
(http://news.yahoo.com/internet-light-promises-leave-wi-fi-eating-dust-135433368.html)
By Laure Fillon, February 23, 2016 8:54 AM



http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/446BEcW2Mo5tAVqvcpjZ.w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3NfbGVnbztmaT1maWxsO2g9Mzc3O2lsPXBsYW5lO3B4b2ZmPTUwO3B5b2ZmPTA7cT03NTt3PTY3MA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/Part-HKG-Hkg8023439-1-1-0.jpg (http://news.yahoo.com/internet-light-promises-leave-wi-fi-eating-dust-135433368.html#)
(click picture for picture gallery)


Barcelona (AFP) - Connecting your smartphone to the web with just a lamp -- that is the promise of Li-Fi, featuring Internet access 100 times faster than Wi-Fi with revolutionary wireless technology.

French start-up Oledcomm demonstrated the technology at the Mobile World Congress, the world's biggest mobile fair, in Barcelona. As soon as a smartphone was placed under an office lamp, it started playing a video.

The big advantage of Li-Fi, short for "light fidelity", is its lightning speed.

Laboratory tests have shown theoretical speeds of over 200 Gbps -- fast enough to "download the equivalent of 23 DVDs in one second", the founder and head of Oledcomm, Suat Topsu, told AFP.

"Li-Fi allows speeds that are 100 times faster than Wi-Fi" which uses radio waves to transmit data, he added.

The technology uses the frequencies generated by LED bulbs -- which flicker on and off imperceptibly thousands of times a second -- to beam information through the air, leading it to be dubbed the "digital equivalent of Morse Code".

It started making its way out of laboratories in 2015 to be tested in everyday settings in France, a Li-Fi pioneer, such as a museums and shopping malls. It has also seen test runs in Belgium, Estonia and India.

Dutch medical equipment and lighting group Philips is reportedly interested in the technology and Apple may integrate it in its next smartphone, the iPhone7, due out at the end of the year, according to tech media.

With analysts predicting the number of objects that are connected to the Internet soaring to 50 million by 2020 and the spectrum for radio waves used by Wi-Fi in short supply, Li-Fi offers a viable alternative, according to its promoters.

"We are going to connect our coffee machine, our washing machine, our tooth brush. But you can't have more than ten objects connected in Bluetooth or Wi-Fi without interference," said Topsu.

Deepak Solanki, the founder and chief executive of Estonian firm Velmenni which tested Li-fi in an industrial space last year, told AFP he expected that "two years down the line the technology can be commercialised and people can see its use at different levels."

View gallery" (http://news.yahoo.com/photos/li-fi-tested-france-belgium-estonia-india-photo-135433624.html): Li-Fi has been tested in France, Belgium, Estonia and India (AFP Photo/Sam Yeh)

- 'Still a laboratory technology' -
Analysts said it was still hard to say if Li-Fi will become the new Wi-Fi.

"It is still a laboratory technology," said Frederic Sarrat, an analyst and consultancy firm PwC.

Much will depend on how Wi-Fi evolves in the coming years, said Gartner chief analyst Jim Tully.

"Wi-Fi has shown a capability to continuously increase its communication speed with each successive generation of the technology," he told AFP.

View gallery (http://news.yahoo.com/photos/li-fi-light-fidelity-reached-speeds-over-200-photo-135433294.html): Li-Fi (Light-Fidelity) has reached speeds of over 200 Gbps (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)

Li-fi has its drawbacks -- it only works if a smartphone or other device is placed directly in the light and it cannot travel through walls.

This restricts its use to smaller spaces, but Tully said this could limit the risk of data theft.

"Unlike Wi-Fi, Li-Fi can potentially be directed and beamed at a particular user in order to enhance the privacy of transmissions," he said.

Backers of Li-Fi say it would also be ideal in places where Wi-Fi is restricted to some areas such as schools and hospitals.

"Li-fi has a place in hospitals because it does not create interference with medical materials," said Joel Denimal, head of French lighting manufacturer Coolight.

In supermarkets it could be used to give information about a product, or in museums about a painting, by using lamps placed nearby.

It could also be useful on aircraft, in underground garages and any place where lack of Internet connection is an issue.

But Li-Fi also requires that devices be equipped with additional technology such as a card reader, or dongle, to function. This gives it a "cost disadvantage", said Tully.

[Hervé]

Russian scientists develop long-range secure quantum communication system (http://tass.ru/en/science/869095)

Science & Space (http://tass.ru/en/science) April 13, 10:29 UTC+3

The experimental device based on the results of the research is capable of transmitting single-photon quantum signals across distances of 250 kilometers or more


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© ITMO university (http://www.ifmo.ru/ru/)


MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. A group of scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia has developed a novel approach to the construction of quantum communication systems for secure data exchange. The experimental device based on the results of the research is capable of transmitting single-photon quantum signals across distances of 250 kilometers or more, which is on par with its cutting edge analogues, the ITMO press-service said.

"Now the researchers are on the mission to create a full-fledged quantum cryptographic system, which will generate and distribute quantum keys and transmit useful data simultaneously", ITMO said.

Information security is becoming more and more of a critical issue not only for large companies, banks and defense enterprises but even for small businesses and individual users. However, the data encryption algorithms we currently use for protecting our data are imperfect - in the long-term, their logic can be cracked. Regardless of how complex and intricate the algorithm is, getting round it is just the matter of time. Contrary to algorithm-based encryption, systems that protect information by making use of the fundamental laws of quantum physics, can make data transmission completely immune to hacker attacks in the future. Information in a quantum channel is carried by single photons that change irreversibly once an eavesdropper attempts to intercept them. Therefore, the legitimate users will instantly know about any kind of intervention.

Researchers from the Quantum Information Centre of the International Institute of Photonics and Optical Information Technology at ITMO University along with colleagues from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have devised a new way to effectively generate and distribute quantum bits. This is the first system in Russia, which can compete with the best existing analogues and makes it possible to share quantum signals via optical fiber across 250 kilometers in distance.

"To transmit quantum signals, we use the so-called side frequencies," said Artur Gleim, head of the Quantum Information Centre at ITMO University, "This unique approach gives us a number of advantages, such as considerable simplification of the device architecture and large pass-through capacity of the quantum channel. In terms of bit rate and operating distance our system is comparable to absolute champions in the field of quantum communications."

In order to encode quantum bits in the system, laser radiation is directed into a special device called the electro-optical phase modulator. Inside the modulator the central carrier wave emitted by the laser is split into several independent waves. After the signal is transmitted through the cable, the same splitting occurs on the receiver end. Depending on the relative phase shift of the waves generated by the sender and the receiver, the waves will either enhance or cancel each other. This pattern generated by overlapping wave phases is then converted into the combination of binary digits, 1 and 0, which serves to compile a quantum key.

Importantly, the scientists have achieved high stability of the relative phase shifts of the signal in the system. "All waves undergo random changes while passing through the fiber," explains Oleg Bannik, one of the authors of the study and researcher at Quantum Information Centre, "But these changes are always identical and get smoothed over during the additional run through the receiver’s modulator. In the end, the receiver observes the same combination as the sender."

According to Robert Collins, research associate at the Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences at Heriot-Watt University and one of the authors of the study, the work may become a big pivot point for the whole field of quantum communication and cryptography: "Down the track, this new approach can enable smooth coexistence of numerous data streams with different wavelengths in one single optical cable. On top of it, these quantum streams can be fed into the already existing fiber optic lines along with conventional communications."

The research paper was published in the Optics Express journal.

[Hervé]

250Gbps: Russian scientists aim to revolutionize computing with plasma-driven antennas (https://www.rt.com/news/356800-russia-plasma-computing-nanoparticle/)

Published time: 23 Aug, 2016 04:46
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A team of Russian physicists has found a way to tune silicon nanoparticles so they can process optical data at previously unattainable speed, paving the way for the creation of “ultracompact and ultrafast” processing devices.

The findings of the experiment-based survey conducted by scientists from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and ITMO University were published in the ACS Photonics journal in late July.

The scientists have performed a series of experiments, studying the response of nanoparticles, made of conventional silicone, to the intense and short laser pulse. They found that if affected by the laser the plasma inside the particles displays an ultrafast reaction.

The silicon particle, thereby, acts as an nonlinear antenna at the speed of about 250 Gb/s processing optical data at the speed far exceeding the one that could be achieved by the means of conventional silicon electronics.

“Today’s optical fibers are able to transfer information at record speeds of hundreds of gigabytes per second. However, silicon electronics do not allow such fast information processing. The creation of a nonlinear optical antenna will allow us to solve this problem, and pave the way for ultrafast processing of optical information,” Denis Baranov, a researcher with MIPT, told RIA Novosti.

The scientists have established that the antenna’s scattering pattern undergoes dramatic changes within a very short span of time when irradiated by the laser pulse. While, normally, a nanoparticle scatters a fairly equal amount of energy backward and forward, it switches to “unidirectional scattering regime” under the influence of the femtosecond laser.

It envisages a possibility to exert control over the direction in which the light is scattered.

Such property is essential for creation of a first all-optical transistor and, subsequently, next-generation optical computers, which will be able to process much greater amounts of information as they rely on photons. Transistors serve as one of the key components in computing circuits.

“Our work lays the foundation for developing ultracompact and ultrafast all-optical signal processing devices,” states the paper, which is called (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00358) “Nonlinear Transient Dynamics of Photoexcited Resonant Silicon Nanostructures.”