On 12/04/2011 04:52 PM, Darren New wrote:
> On 4/12/2011 7:15, Invisible wrote:
>> So if this technology is the future... where is it? How come it's
>> completely
>> vanished off the face of existence?
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_computing

Oh, is that what they call it now?

>> There seemed to be some suggesting that the entire IC might work by
>> processing light instead of electricity. I'm sceptical about whether that
>> could work. I'm not aware of any light-based switching technology.
>
> The very effect that makes you not need wires means the entire IC can't
> work with nothing but light. You don't need wires because photons don't
> interact with each other - they only interact with electrons. Hence, you
> can't easily switch light without involving electricity.

The article linked claims that materials with a "non-linear refractive 
index" can be used to make signals interact. It also suggests that this 
is much less efficient than semiconductors.

>> On the other hand, just using light for implementing long-range
>> connections? That could *totally* work!
>
> You mean, like, microwave communication towers and fiber optic cable?

No, I mean like if component A needs to be connected to component Z at 
the other end of the die, you could stick in an optical link, rather 
than trying to route a trace the entire way across the die. And doing so 
might be a big win in terms of signal propogation speed, capacitance, etc.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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