Calculating with light using a chip-scale all-optical abacus

Nature Communications
J FeldmannWolfram H P Pernice

Abstract

Machines that simultaneously process and store multistate data at one and the same location can provide a new class of fast, powerful and efficient general-purpose computers. We demonstrate the central element of an all-optical calculator, a photonic abacus, which provides multistate compute-and-store operation by integrating functional phase-change materials with nanophotonic chips. With picosecond optical pulses we perform the fundamental arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, including a carryover into multiple cells. This basic processing unit is embedded into a scalable phase-change photonic network and addressed optically through a two-pulse random access scheme. Our framework provides first steps towards light-based non-von Neumann arithmetic.

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Citations

Feb 23, 2018·Nanotechnology·R A CobleyC D Wright
Nov 14, 2017·Nanotechnology·Tobias BachmannC David Wright
Jun 26, 2018·Advanced Materials·Zengguang ChengHarish Bhaskaran
Nov 25, 2018·Optics Express·Santiago García-Cuevas CarrilloC David Wright
Mar 4, 2020·Optics Express·Hao HuB M A Rahman
Feb 18, 2020·Science Advances·Xiao-Yun XuXian-Min Jin
Apr 17, 2019·Scientific Reports·Larissa VertchenkoAndrei V Lavrinenko
Sep 13, 2019·Optics Express·Emanuele GemoC David Wright
Jan 25, 2019·Nature Communications·Jingyi TianSergey I Bozhevolnyi
Feb 23, 2019·Science Advances·Carlos RíosHarish Bhaskaran
Feb 2, 2021·Science Advances·Zengguang ChengHarish Bhaskaran
Dec 14, 2017·Nanotechnology·T A BachmannC D Wright
Jun 3, 2021·Molecules : a Journal of Synthetic Chemistry and Natural Product Chemistry·Xiaoxiao WangQihuang Gong
Jul 3, 2021·Materials·Irene VassaliniDomenico de Ceglia
Feb 10, 2021··Kathleen A. RichardsonYifei Zhang
May 8, 2019··Zengguang ChengC. David Wright
Oct 1, 2019··Peipeng XUZhuoran Fang

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
atomic force microscopy
chip

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