CONTENTS

Name of Topic Certificate Acknowledgement Abstract 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Introduction The Optical Computer Optical Transistors Optical Logic Gates The Optical Processor Materials Needed Holographic Storage Advantages of Computing at Light Speed Drawbacks Conclusion References

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1 2 4 6 13 16 18 22 25

1. Introduction
There is a law called Moore's law - this states that computing power doubles every 18 months - and so far this isn't far from the truth. Current processor advances are largely based on miniaturization - the smaller the circuits within the processor the shorter distance the electron has to travel. Currently die sizes of 0.13 m are being achieved allowing for lightning speed.... but where does it stop? There is a limit to the size that can be achieved; this is where Optical computing comes in. Optical computing is based upon light instead of electricity, this can enable speeds a hundred million times faster, and it is only with recent advances that this can be made possible. .

Recent discoveries have allowed light to be stopped, stored, and further more - released upon command. This kind of control of light paves way for advanced optical computing, currently we use optics for data transmission, as with the Internet, however the use of this was limited. Unlike a copper cable, which sends electricity one pulse at a time, optical fibers can transmit several pieces of data as waves of different colors (i.e. wavelengths) of light which can travel down a fiber simultaneously. That's much faster.

"Optically, we can solve a problem in one hour which would take an electronic computer 11 years to solve," said Hossin Abduldayem, a senior research scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "It is an acceleration of 20 years in the development of digital hardware," Lenslet founder and Chief Executive Officer Aviram Sariel said. Here, we took a look at what optoelectronic and optical artifacts have been churn out of the labs so far and what this means for fully-optical computing.

2. The Optical Computer

An optical computer (also called a photonic computer) is a device that uses the photons in visible light or infrared (IR) beams, rather than electric current, to perform digital computations. An electric current flows at only about 10 percent of the speed of light. This limits the rate at which data can be exchanged over long distances, and is one of the factors that led to the evolution of optical fiber. By applying some of the advantages of visible and/or IR networks at the device and component scale, a computer can be developed that can perform operations 10 or more times faster than a conventional electronic computer.

Fig: 1

Visible-light and IR beams, unlike electric currents, pass through each other without interacting. Several laser beams can be shone so their paths intersect, but there is no interference among the beams, even when they are confined essentially to two

dimensions. Electric currents must be guided around each other, and this makes threedimensional wiring necessary. Thus, an optical computer, besides being much faster than an electronic one, is even much smaller. Some optical devices can be controlled by electronic currents, even though the impulses carrying the data are visible light or IR.

3. Optical Transistors
The logic gate is the basic building block of a computer and transistors are building blocks of logic gates in silicon-computer world. The discovery of optical devices that act as transistors are being actively pursued, since it could lead to new possibilities in computer designs.

3.1 Silicon Photonic Crystal Based Transistor

Researchers at University of Toronto have discovered a new technique to form tiny perfect crystals that have high optical quality, a finding that could usher in a new era of ultra-fast computing and communication using photons instead of electrons.These crystals, called photonic crystals, could greatly improve both speed and bandwidth in communications systems. All of the promises of what photonic crystals can do, in terms of guiding light and bending light in incredibly small spaces, may be achieved by the assembly of patterns of micrometer-size photonic crystals all in a plane. The breakthrough possibly represents a step towards the development of miniaturized optical components earmarked for the next generation of all-optical computers and telecommunication systems.

Fig: 3.1

Geometrically and spatially confined oriented colloidal photonic crystal growth exclusively within surface relief micro patterns Image: Geoffrey Ozin, University of Toronto

The technique, described in the June issue of Advanced Functional Materials, carves geometrically and spatially well-defined microscopic patterns into the surface of a material. The surface relief patterns are then exposed to an alcohol-based solution of synthetic micro spheres. These micro spheres exclusively enter the surface relief patterns and self-assemble into perfectly arranged microstructures called photonic crystals. The crystals have the property of being able to act as tiny optical components for managing photons in circuits of light similar to how semi-conductor transistors control electrons in circuits of electricity.

A transistor is essentially a switch, and the defining speed parameter here is the switching time. Evident Technologies, USA, has come up with a planar light wave circuit device that acts as a transistor with a switching time of 1 Pico second. The switching process takes place using light pulses.

Fig: 3.2

In November 2003, Stanford and MIT researchers brought out designs for an optical switch and an optical transistor. These are less than a micron in size, and their designs can be fabricated in regular chip-fabricating facilities. The devices would work on the principle of the bending or refraction, of light in a photonic crystal. The principle of optoelectronic transistors or switches is simple: instead of measuring the current to determine device output, light or the electro luminescent-output is measured.

4. Optical Logic Gates

Information is carried on beams of light just as it is carried on a radio, television, or microwave signal. Here pulse coding is used both for carrying data and for opening and closing logical gates that direct photonic information around photonic circuits. The organization of photonic logic stages uses the organization of logic stages in an electronic computer because we want the photonic computer to do the same things that regular computers do...only faster. The basic switching functions of digital computers use Boolean logic.

4.1 Operating logically

In binary data coding, when a pulse is on (at a specific time) the data bit is a "1", and when is absent, or off, the bit is a "0". ON bit light pulses are represented by the squares. They enter from the two input beam positions on the left and are combined by a special optical hologram (the big white thing shown in cross section.) Angles depicted are greatly exaggerated in order to clarify the explanation. While NAND and NOR are popular in electronic circuits, the OR and the XOR accomplish the same tasks in light computers. By using these two all of computing can be constructed just as is done in electronics. Traveling at the speed of light, "ON" pulses interact with the photonic transistor's hologram in different ways depending on the exact hologram, and the relationship of simultaneously-arriving pulses to each other. In Fig-4.1 an OR and an XOR are shown. Each of these functions can be produced with the same hologram, the difference being the location from which the output energy is extracted. Thus, information about both functions is actually generated simultaneously, with the output energy from each one being directed as needed to subsequent logic stages. As with any two-input binary device, there are four possible combinations of the input beams being instantaneously on or off: both off, the upper one on, the lower one on, and

both beams on. These various input combinations are held steady during the entire pulse length so as to produce equivalently long outputs. The input pulse combinations produce four different images, or energy distributions that are projected onto the separator. The null image is produced when both beams are simultaneously off. Since there is no energy input, there is no energy output either through the hole or by reflection. In the right part of Fig the mask mirror is shown as seen from the hologram. In between pulses, no energy is available, and thus nothing goes through the exit hole. However, when the diffracted pulse reaches the mirror/mask the image component having the OR information exits the hole. The portion having the XOR information (the pulse heading downward away from the hologram,) is reflected by the mirror and on to the next logic stage, (not shown.)

Fig-4.1 Logic gate with single pulse entering at one of the inputs

Fig-4.2 Logic gate with diffraction of pulse at the optical hologram

Fig-4.3 Logic gate with output pulses at output and (at right) the illumination of the masking mirror as seen from the hologram

Fig-4.4 Logic gate with output of the XOR after reflection A single pulse entering at either of the inputs will be spread out by diffraction to cover the surface of the separating mirror to the right. Thus the mirror with its hole provides a separation of energy from different locations within the image produced during the various states of this photonic transistor. It is, therefore, both a mirror and a mask...an image component separator. Looking at the projected image on the logic output separator, the right portion of the figure shows the distribution of energy in relation to the output hole, at the moment when the spreading pulse strikes the mirror. The view is from the hologram looking toward the mirror. When the lower input beam contains an "ON" pulse instead of the upper the result is exactly the same as shown above with the exception of a 180 degree phase change that occurs in the carrier wave (the electromagnetic energy itself) at the XOR output position, which will affect the way those pulses are handled in subsequent logic stages. This phase change occurs between the two input states discussed above, as to whether the energy

comes from the upper input or the lower input, and is not the same as the usual phase change that occurs upon reflection. The carrier phase remains the same at the OR output. When both inputs are ON simultaneously during the pulse time, the two beams interfere with each other at the hologram producing an image which is considerably different, called an "interference fringe." This redistribution of energy within the fringe is produced by constructive interference between the two pulse waves, which localizes the combined energy into areas we call CI areas. Since the energy from both beam pulses is redistributed into the CI areas at the separator, (the mirror/mask,) there is an absence of energy in the DI areas. DI stands for "destructive interference."

Fig-4.5 Logic gate with both inputs ON simultaneously during the pulse time

Fig-4.6 Logic gate with the two beams interfering with each other at the hologram producing an image

Fig-4.7 Logic gate with output of both OR and XOR, (at right) with corresponding Constructive Interference and Destructive Interference

Fig-4.8 Logic gate after output light has passed the masking mirror Destructive interference and the initial constructive interference take place at the position of the hologram, when energy from one input is made to superposition on top of energy from the other beam. The tiny pattern produced at that time/location, is then projected onto to the mirror/mask where energy having different characteristics is separated to become the photonic transistor's various outputs. Some of the pulses turn "hot" green in the process. In real photonic transistors, the laser light which supplies the input light does not actually change color (frequency or wavelength.) The localization of energy caused by interference increases the intensity of the output pulse by 4 times over what exits through either output when only one pulse traverses the transistor. The increased intensity is depicted by "hot green" as opposed to plain red for the single beam intensity. When the single pulse arrives, and is spread into the CI area to become part of the OR output, and also into the DI area to become part of the XOR output, thus, there are 2

portions available. If there were no interference, then turning on the second beam would produce 2 more portions at each output, for a total of 4 energy portions. However, because of interference, all 4 portions arrive at the OR output. Since intensity of an electromagnetic pulse is the amount of energy per unit square area, which is proportional to the square of the amplitude, the OR output intensity is 4 times the single pulse intensity. Two important things are occurring here. 1) The logic information has been extracted, and is captive within the modulation patterns of the two outputs. Since it is information that computers manipulate, the generation of this logic information from the modulated information represented by the blinking input beams is the vital step in producing computing. However, subsequent circuits must be presented this information in a useable form. As with the 180 degree phase shifting that occurs at the XOR output between one single beam state and the other single beam state, there is an amplitude modulated component that exists along with the OR information in the OR output. There are a number of photonic devices for dealing with this, and putting it to useful work. 2) The real advantage to the photonic transistor comes from its great speed. The transient propagation or switching time is easily calculated since it is directly related to the distance the pulses must travel from the hologram to the output. While electronic transistors having a propagation time in the order of a nanosecond (billionth of a second,) traverse a distance smaller than a point of a pin, light in air or vacuum covers 30 cm, or about 11 3/4 inches. A considerable number of photonic transistor logic stages can thus be built into a "nanosecond" far out-pacing its electronic counterpart.

Green Hot Green

Fig-4.9 Logic gate with various logic outputs from the various combinations of inputs one after another

In Fig-4.9 many pulses are shown producing the various logic outputs from the various combinations of inputs as the pulses pass one after the other through a photonic transistor. Unlike electronic transistors, logic calculations are able to be produced using pipelined pulses that exist simultaneously within a transistor without the pulse in front crosstalking with the pulse behind it. So, as long as the results of one logic operation are not needed while the pulses are still in the pipeline, a considerable amount of information can be processed by a single photonic transistor during the time it takes for an electronic transistor to just turn itself on.

5. The Optical Processor

Fig: 5.1 EnLight256 was Chosen as Product of the Year in Jan 6, 2004.

The Year 2003 was a landmark year in the journey towards optical computing. In March, Light bit Corp, USA, came up with an optical processor that deals with multiple channels in fiber-optic networks. Lenslet, an Israeli startup, also launched supercomputer caliber optical chip the same year named EnLight 256. EnLight 256 is a digital signal processor (DSP) with an optical accelerator attached to it that enables it to perform functions at very high speeds. It performs a series of simple operations rather than provide a basis for general purpose processing. EnLight comprises an eight trillion operations per second vector-matrix engine, a 128 billion ops per second vector processing unit and a standard semiconductor DSP licensed from Texas Instruments for scalar processing and chip control. EnLight can process multiple DWDM channels in fiber-optic network simultaneously, without the intervening electronic conversion. Just one of these processors can replace multiple optical-electrical-optical (OEO) transponders. The chip uses the parallel-processing power of light. The processor performs 8 trillion operations per second, which is equivalent to a supercomputer and 1,000 times faster than standard processors, with 256 lasers performing computations at light speed. The size of the chip is 15 x 15 cm with a height of 1.7 cm.

Processing at the speed of light, we can have safer airports, autonomous military systems, high-definition multimedia broadcast systems and advanced next-generation

communications systems. Semiconductor companies are working on technology that would use optical channels inside a chip to allow very high-speed communication from one part of a chip to another. One issue is whether this technology can be produced in volume the way silicon chips are made.

Ablaze

Fig-5.2 Ablaze- Spatial Light Modulator The Ablaze is the Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) in the optical core of the EnLight256 optimized for operating as a standalone product. The Ablaze SLM utilizes advanced Multiple Quantum Well (MQW) GaAs technology and is a two dimensional 8bit resolution, reflective mode intensity modulator. It operates at a low level voltage, high

efficiency, high contrast ratios, low insertion loss and high frame rates, in comparison to existing solutions. The Ablaze characteristics makes it an attractive solution for many applications requiring a MQW SLM 2D Modulator such as optical processors, free-space optical communications, optical correlators, laser beam control, high density and high capacity data storage, high bandwidth I/Os onto a CMOS chip, medical, industrial and defense applications and many more.

6. Materials Needed
All-optical switching using optical materials can relieve the escalating problem of bandwidth limitations imposed by electronics. Entirely optical computers are still some time in the future but right now scientists are focusing on developing hybrids by combining electronics with photonics. Electro-optic hybrids were first made possible around 1978, when researchers realized that photons could respond to electrons through certain media such as lithium niobate (LiNbO3). Newer advances have produced a variety of thin films and optical fibers that make optical interconnections and devices practical. Scientists are focusing on thin films made of organic molecules, which are more light sensitive than inorganics. Organics can perform functions such as switching, signal processing and frequency doubling using less power than inorganics. Inorganics such as silicon used with organic materials let us use both photons and electrons in current hybrid systems, which will eventually lead to all-optical computer systems. To make the thin polymer films for electro-optic applications, NASA scientists dissolve a monomer (the building block of a polymer) in an organic solvent. This solution is then put into a growth cell with a quartz window. An ultraviolet lamp shining through this window creates a chemical reaction, causing a thin polymer film to deposit on the quartz.
Fig 6.1: A polymer film

"painted on" with an ultraviolet laser next to a film created with a broad-spectrum ultraviolet lamp. Blocking the UV rays with a piece of paper (shaped like the Space Shuttle) adhering to the quartz. prevents the film from

An ultraviolet lamp causes the entire quartz surface to become coated, but shining a laser through the quartz can cause the polymer to deposit in specific patterns. Because a laser is a thin beam of focused light, it can be used to draw exact lines. A laser beam's focus can be as small as a micron-sized spot (1 micron is 1-millionth of a meter, or 1/25,000 of an inch), so the organic materials can be deposited on the quartz in very sophisticated patterns. By "painting with light," optical circuits can be created that may one day replace the electronics currently used in computers. In electronics more transistors mean the signals have to travel a greater distance on thinner wires. As the switches and connecting wires are squeezed closer together, the resulting cross talk can inadvertently cause a digital signal to change from a 1 to a 0. Scientists are working on developing newer, better insulators to combat this problem. But optical computers wouldn't need better insulators because they don't experience crosstalk. The thin-films used in electro-optic computers would eliminate many such problems plaguing electronics today. "In the optical computer of the future," says Dr Donald Frazier, research scientist at NASA, "electronic circuits and wires will be replaced by a few optical fibers and films, making the systems more efficient with no interference, more cost effective, lighter and more compact." The Alliance for Non-linear Optics (ANLO) was formed with a grant from NASA with the goal of focusing on materials that support optical computing. Non-linear optics is the key here. In its mission statement, ANLO says that lack of good material is an impediment to progress, and to that end, experiments with mostly organic materials that may serve as the basis for optical computing devices such as logic gates.

7. Holographic Storage
The capacities of today's mass storage devices cannot satisfy the demands of new processes that will be developed near future. To achieve a full-scale optical computing environment (with large computing power), it is necessary to have memories with rapid access time and large storage capacity. To meet these needs holographic memories have emerged. Using the Holographic storage technology bits can be accessed in microsecond instead of the milliseconds required for magnetic or optical disk. Moreover, instead of getting a serial stream of bits, entire arrays of bits, up to 1MBit, are delivered simultaneously. Storage capacities are very competitive with magnetic or optical disk, and the media volumetric storage density is significantly greater since it is a 3-D storage media. A volume holographic storage (holostore) device is a page-oriented device that writes and reads data in an optical form. The holography technology achieves the necessary high storage densities as well as fast access times. This capability occurs because a holographic image, or hologram, encodes a large block of data as a single entity in a single write operation. Conversely, the process of reading a hologram retrieves the entire data block simultaneously. Practically, researchers believe that Holographic data storage system in which thousands of pages (blocks of data), each containing million bits, can be stored within the volume of a sugar cube, have a storage capacity of 10 GB per cubic centimeter. This figure is still very impressive compared to today's magnetic storage densities, which are around 100 Kilobits per square centimeter (not including the derive mechanism). At this density of optical media, roughly the size of a deck of playing cards would be able to house a terabyte of data. Because such system can have no moving parts and its pages are accessed in parallel, it is estimated that data throughput on such system can hit 1 Gbps or higher. In holographic recording applications, longer interaction lengths imply increased angular selectivity and also higher data storage capacity. These advantages are

in addition to the ability to synthesize a much larger cross sectional area then is currently attainable using bulk material.

7.1 Working of Holography Technology

Holostore leverages the imaging properties of light and its ability to launch. The reading out of images instead of single bits serially provides a tremendous improvement in the bandwidth. The ability for light to be launched through space and deflected easily will eliminate the need for rotation of the medium. The capability of coherent light to interfere and to form holograms provides a convenient way to address a storage medium in three dimensions, while only scanning the beams in two dimensions. Holography records the information from a three-dimensional object in such a way that a three-dimensional image may subsequently be constructed. Holographic memory uses lasers for both reading and writing the blocks of data into the photosensitive material. A digital hologram is formed by recording the interference pattern between a discretely modulated coherent wave front and a reference beam on a photosensitive material.

7.2 Holographic Storage System

The device first splits a blue argon laser beam into separate reference and object beams. The object beam that carries the information gets expanded so that it fully illuminates a spatial light modulator (SLM). An SLM is simply an LCD panel that displays a page of raw binary data as an array of clear or dark pixels.

Fig-7.1 Fundamental components of a holographic storage system To read the stored data, the hologram is illuminated with the reference beam. Each page of the hologram is recorded separately. To record on the hologram, the data in the form of electric signal is converted to optical signals by a page composer. The controller generates the address to access the desired page. This results in the exposure of a small area of the recording medium through an aperture. The optical output signal is directed to the exposed area by the deflector. Using this beam deflecting mechanism, the light (which carries the information) and the reference beam are made to interact. The interference pattern is thus recorded on the hologram. To record a different page, the aperture is moved and the above process is repeated. For data retrieval, the laser (reference beam) is focused on the appropriate page according to the address generated. A photo detector array on the other side of the hologram records the image of that sub-hologram.

7.3 Holographic data storage materials

Despite decades of research in holographic-storage materials, iron doped lithium niobate is still the medium of choice for all demonstrations of holographic-storage system. Despite its well-known shortcomings, such as destructive readout of data and relatively low sensitivity, it is the only material that currently has the optical quality that is critical for a system application.

7.4 Problems with the Holographic Storage System

A difficulty with the holostore technology had been the destructive readout. The reilluminated reference beam (i.e. the read beam, see How holographic storage system works), used to retrieve the recorded information, also excites the donor electrons and disturbs the equilibrium of the space charge field in a manner that produces a gradual erasure of the recording. In the past, this has limited the number of reads that can be made before the signal-to -noise ratio becomes too low. Moreover, writes in the same fashion can degrade previous writes in the same region of the medium. This restricts the ability to use the three-dimensional capacity of a photo refractive for recording anglemultiplexed holograms. The other challenge has been the geometry of the crystal medium. It is difficult to grow large crystals of good optical quality and of limited size. As a consequence of this problem, widespread application of the bulk photo refractive technology has not been occurred, despite an initial surge of development in the decade of the 1970s.

8. Advantages of Computing at Light Speed

The photonic transistor products, which are expected to replace much of the electronics infrastructure during the 21st century, can be made smaller, faster, and cheaper. They are more reliable, generate less heat, and are not susceptible to interference from outside influences. In comparison to photonics, even the best electronics is slow, because photons are faster than electrons.

8.1 Very Fast

Unlike electronic circuits, photonic circuits process information by manipulating light with light at the speed of light. The amount of information that can be processed in one second depends on how fast the components in the circuit are able to control information. The photonic transistor is the first method developed that switches one beam of light on and off with another beam of light at the full speed of light, which is necessary in order to manipulate information and perform computing functions completely in the light-speed optical domain. To be precise, photonic transistors have been produced that react to photonic signals in the time of one cycle of one wavelength of the light being used. For red light that switching time is about 2.1 fs and for blue light it is about 1.5 fs. With the 1500 nm light used in fiber optic communications switching time is 5 fs.

8.2 Photonic transistors are able to manipulate information nearly 100,000 times faster than electronic transistors
Photons of light are comprised of octagonal electric and magnetic fields that propagate at 186,000 miles/sec (300,000 km/sec) in a straight line. Electrons are also made of fields of flowing energy that propagate at light speed. However, the propagation paths of the energy in an electron circulate around following the physical shape of the electron itself. Consequently, in order for an electron to physically move from point A to point B, the

energy must circulate around the electron along a curved path, while the whole circulating field structure migrates its way over to B. Because all energy moves at the same speed, the energy in the electron takes longer to get to B simply because it must cover a longer circulating distance than the energy in a photon, which makes a straight shot of it. This circulating energy pattern within the electron is also the reason why it's able to stay in one place, while the photon is not. The same feature makes electrons inherently slow.

8.3 Miniaturization Limit

In recent years the demand for bandwidth (information carrying ability) has increased so rapidly that the electronics industry has been forced to push the devices to their physical limits. But, the structure of the electron itself presents a physical barrier that cannot be surpassed by any circulating field system such as an electron, atom or molecule. So, the closer technology pushes the electron to its limits the more their costs go exponential. Photonic transistor products can be made "smaller" than their slower electronic counterparts even though they are limited by the size of the wavelength being used. The tremendous bandwidth of light can be used in Frequency Multiplexed Logic photonic transistors. By this method, a single physical device can substitute for a billion devices of a typical electronic architecture. Since so much can be done with so few physical devices, the total transistor count is much smaller. Consequently, the complete apparatus can be made much smaller than its electronic equivalent when comparing bandwidth for bandwidth. The demand for faster computers and communications equipment is expected to rise as more and more people come to expect broadband services. Since the industry is now pushing the electron to its limits, the only alternative is light.

8.4 Light is able to do much more than electricity

In addition to the photonic transistor's ability to switch in one cycle, the structure of light is quite different from the electron. At any given instant, all of the information on an electric conductor is a function of just one variable... the electric charge at that location. Each photon, on-the-other-hand, being quantum, provides an independent informationcarrying variable for each independent photonic frequency or color. So the capacity of light to carry information in serial surpasses electronics because of light's physical structure, but a multi-colored beam of light is like a parallel bunch of wires where each "wire" is a different color. The photonic transistor has been shown to have a tuning and filtering resolution finer than that of an AM radio. So, if just the visible portion of the spectrum were to be divided into AM radio-wide-bands there would be over 35 billion separate channels. In a computer, that's like having a bus width of 35 billion rather than the paltry 64 or 128 bit buses that have so greatly increased the speed of today's computers.

8.5 Information carrying capacity of a single beam of light

Each color can, in theory, carry over 200 terabits of information per second. The entire Library of Congress has only about 30 terabits of information in it. Multiply that times the number of colors and it represents a gigantic amount of information carrying capacity. But not just for transmission through optical fibers and the like. Since the photonic transistor is able to manipulate those bits in the optical domain just as dexterously as electronic transistors manipulate the information in electronic circuits, nearly every information-processing device can now be produced using light speed photonics.

8.6 Use of holograms to replace computer chips

Holograms are just one method for making photonic transistors. They can be made with optical fibers, and a host of other optical methods. However, computer generated holograms have the ability to imitate nearly any ordinary optical setup. The complexities of optical integrated circuits can be calculated into a set of holograms that enable the light to manipulate the light in complex photonic circuits. The architecture is similar to that used in electronic computer chips. It's just faster and less expensive to manufacture.

8.7 Photonic transistor circuits are cheaper than electronic circuits

High-speed electronics... that is, the best that can be achieved, takes extremely pure materials and extremely precise manufacturing equipment that can control manufacturing down to the size of an atom. One atom out of place and the part fails. Photonic transistors can be made of glass, plastic, aluminum and other common materials. Manufacturing tolerances are well within the capability of a growing number of commercial optical manufacturing methods. And, some manufacturing methods can actually stamp out photonic transistor holograms.

9. Drawbacks
9.1 Noise
Unlike electronic circuits, conventional optical amplifiers and many nonlinear optics, the light in photonic transistors does not interact with the material of which the transistor is made, in such a way that would add noise to the signals passing through. One reason for this is that the process of optical interference, that the transistors are based on, involves only the redistribution of energy rather than absorption or re-emission of energy that can produce heat, which in turn could introduce noise into the signals.

9.2 Competing optical materials

The search for specialized materials that would do what photonic transistors are already doing has been a well-funded failure among many companies, large and small. Discovering a practical switching material has been very difficult. The picture hasn't improved much since. So far, the nonlinear optical materials being developed have only been able to switch in several thousands of femtoseconds. However, the greater continuing problem is that, as the pulse repetition rate exceeds 30 megahertz or so, they incinerate themselves.

Conclusion
There is no race on to build a fully-optical computer. Rather, the real race, if any, is that of finding materials that do the job well. We are not at an optical computer yet because none of the components emerged till now work with each other. There is no consortium that has defined any kinds of standard for optical processing or optical computing. Research is scattered and different research groups are different in their focus. Some group focus on materials, some on interconnects, some on components, and so on. No one knows what an optical computer will be like, and what uses it will be like and what uses it will be put to. However we may hazard a guess that it might not be based on the von Neumann architecture. The primary reason for this is the speed that is promised by optical components and the manner in which devices in such a computer can be interconnected. As till now our concept of a computer is centered around a fast main memory and a slower hard disk but with storage going the holographic way, there might be no distinction between main and peripheral memory. Then there is the question of the network being totally distinct from the computer. With high-speed optical switching and optical processors, the same processor that handles signals within the computer could also directly handle those coming in from and going out to the network, effectively uniting processor and network. In sum, the picture we have of optical computing, as it stands today, is first: that the opticalisation of computers is happening component by component; there is a tremendous need for new materials that can be deemed as being capable of implementing what is being done in theory. And second: that we dont yet have a clear idea what a fully optical computer will be like, but the very architecture that John von Neumann spelt out in 1945 may be challenged.

References
Digit July 2004 www.science.nasa.gov www.hait.org/coolscience/page7.htm www.lenslet.com www.evidenttech.com www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~nd/surprise97/journal/voll/ary/holo.html http://www.lightspeed.com.sg/about_us/press_center/press_releases/index.ph p?pr=ibmxseries http://www.newsandevents.utoronto.ca/bin3/020620b.asp http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci283992,00.html