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New algorithm paves the way for light-based computers
Optical interconnects made of silicon act as a prism to direct infrared light transferring data between computer chips
An inverse design algorithm developed by Stanford engineers enables the design of silicon interconnects capable of transmitting data between computer chips via light. The new process replaces the wire circuitry used to relay information electronically, which could lead to the development of highly efficient, light-based computers.
While the heavy lifting in computer processing takes place inside the chips, an analysis by Stanford professor of electrical engineering, David Miller, showed that up to 80 percent of a microprocessor’s power is eaten up by the transmitting of data as a stream of electrons over wire interconnects. Basically, shipping requires far more energy than production, and chewing through all that power is the reason laptops heat up.
Inspired by the optical technology of the internet, the researchers sought to move data between chips over fiber optic threads beaming photons of light. Besides using far less energy than traditional wire interconnects, chip-scale optic interconnects can carry more than 20 times more data.
The majority of fiber optics are made from silicon, which is transparent to infrared light the same way glass is to visible light. Thus, using optical interconnects made from silicon was an obvious choice. “Silicon works,” said Tom Abate, Stanford Engineering communications director. “The whole industry knows how to work with silicon.”
But optical interconnects need to be designed one at a time, making the switch to the technology impractical for computers since such a system requires thousands of such links. That’s where the inverse design algorithm comes in.
The software provides the engineers with details on how the silicon structures need to be designed for performing tasks specific to their optical circuitry. The group designed a working optical circuit in the lab, copies were made, and all worked flawlessly despite being constructed on less than ideal equipment. The researchers cite this as proof of the commercial viability of their optical circuitry, since typical commercial fabrication plants use highly precise, state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment.
While details of the algorithm’s functions is a tad complex, it basically works by designing silicon structures that are able to bend infrared light in various and useful ways, much like a prism bends visible light into a rainbow. When light is beamed at the silicon link, two wavelengths, or colors, of light split off at right angles in a T shape. Each silicon thread is miniscule – 20 could sit side-by-side within a human hair.
The optical interconnects can be constructed to direct specific frequencies of infrared light to specific locations. And it’s the algorithm that instructs how to create these silicon prisms with just the right amount and bend of infrared light. Once the calculation is made as to the proper shape for each specific task, a tiny barcode pattern is etched onto a slice of silicon.
Building an actual computer that uses the optical interconnects has yet to be realized, but the algorithm is a first big step. Other potential uses for the algorithm include designing compact microscopy systems, ultra-secure quantum communications, and high bandwidth optical communications.
The team describes their work in the journal Nature Photonics.
Source: Stanford University
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/algorithm-for-light-based-computers/37905/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
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Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
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• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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