Optical Components For Binary Digital Computer
The fundamental building block of modern electronic computers is the transistor. To replace electronic components with optical ones, an equivalent "optical transistor" is required. This is achieved using materials with a non-linear refractive index. In particular, materials exist where the intensity of incoming light affects the intensity of the light transmitted through the material in a similar manner to the voltage response of an electronic transistor. Such an "optical transistor" can be used to create optical logic gates, which in turn are assembled into the higher level components of the computer's CPU. These will be non linear crystals used to manipulate light beams into controlling others.
Read more about this topic: Optical Computing
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