Optical processing may be the future of computing

Email this article to a friend

Printable Version

Articles Related to This Article: • Intel announces breakthrough Core 2 Duo processors with 40 percent performance boost Support NaturalNews advertisers - Advertise with NaturalNews Help support NaturalNews with health books and educational programs from Truth Publishing: • Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness • 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health • Raw In Ten Minutes (recipes) • How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days ... and much more.

We've seen headlines about optical computing for several years, and it seems that it will be many more years before this technology has any mainstream application, but make no mistake about one thing: optical computing holds tremendous promise. Here's why:

CPUs are all about moving data from one place to another while performing simple logic at data intersections (such as not, and, or, nor, nand, and so on). You can accomplish this by moving electrons, as we do in popular CPUs, or you can do the same thing with photons (light).

So, essentially, we're moving information and performing simple logic on information. Light has characteristics that allow this to take place very rapidly, without many of the limitations of traditional electron-based CPUs.

For one thing, light travels at, well, the speed of light. That's pretty fast: 186,000 miles per second, give or take. And yet it does this without creating all the heat we presently associate with CPUs powered by electricity.

In fact, heat has become a critical limiting factor in the ongoing effort to shrink circuits in modern CPUs. Clock them any faster, or shrink them any more, and you'll be frying the circuits themselves. You can only pump so much electricity through a silicon wafer before it starts to melt. But you can move as many photons as you want, without the heat worry.

Still, optical processing is in its infancy. It's cool science, and it's real science unlike a lot of nanotechnology hype, but it's nowhere near being ready for widespread application.

Share

About the author: Mike Adams is a holistic nutritionist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of super bright LED light bulbs that are 1000% more energy efficient than incandescent lights. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and adult gymnastics. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org


Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • Intel announces breakthrough Core 2 Duo processors with 40 percent performance boost	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/000096_optical_processing_CPUs_optical_computing.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/000096_optical_processing_CPUs_optical_computing.html">Optical processing may be the future of computing</a>