Photonic Processors and the Shift from Electrons to Light-Based Computing

Photonic Processors and the Shift from Electrons to Light-Based Computing

The Photonic Processor: When Computers Ditch Electrons and Ride the Light Wave  In quiet laboratories in the Netherlands and Japan, what could be described as the most significant event in the history of the chip industry since the invention of the transistor took place this week. Researchers succeeded for the first time in powering a processor that operates entirely on photons, particles of light, instead of electrons, within a commercially available chip of the size familiar to consumers. This achievement is not merely an improvement over what exists; it is a civilizational break with seven decades of traditional electronic computing and the beginning of a new era in which our devices literally, not metaphorically, travel at the speed of light. Why light and not electrons? To understand the magnitude of this breakthrough, we must grasp the dilemma that drove scientists in this direction. Traditional electronic processors work by moving electrons within a network of nanoscale circuits e…