The use of light instead of electricity in doing calculations is a
method known as optical computing. It creates a substantial difference between
conventional computers and the quantum computers. Through optical computing,
hypothetical devices can make special types of computations that are incredibly
faster than the good old classical computers.
However, optical computing needs light particles such as photons
in order to modify their behavior. This is something that may be hard to
achieve and the reason is quite simple. When two photons collide in a vacuum,
they tend to just pass through each other.
Researchers from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Research Laboratory of Electronics,
Vienna University of Technology, and Harvard University collaborated to figure
out how to manipulate the behavior of the photons in which they were able to
create an optical switch which can be controlled by a single photon thus
governing light transmission. It is then referred to as a transistor’s optical
analog which is the main component found in a computing circuit.
The result of their study was published on an online journal Science.
Additionally, quantum physics and its strange, counterintuitive
effects are more visible in individual particles as compared with those that
are in clusters. Hence, the use of a single photon when flipping the switch
could come in handy for quantum computing.
The heart of the above-mentioned switch is made up of a pair of
mirrors that are highly reflective. If the switch is turned on, there is an
optical signal or a beam of light that passes through the mirrors. If the
switch is turned off, the light that passes through is reduced by 20 percent.
The two mirrors are used as optical resonator. Vladan Vuletic,
MIT’s Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, explains in the report that when
there’s only one mirror, all the light that passes through would just come
back. On the other hand, something weird happens when you use two mirrors
instead of one. The distance between these two mirrors should be exactly
calculated to the wavelength of the light. When the right wavelength is
achieved, the mirrors suddenly become transparent to light.
The main advantage of optical computing is power management. The
amount of consumed energy in computing devices is something that we shouldn’t
ignore. The biggest advantage of switching in the single-photon level is the
energy that is saved in every bit. The bit is naturally included in one single
photon.
Vuckovic believes that the result of their study may be used in
the enhancement of computer chips which may result to faster computers with
longer battery life.
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