Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03

1. INTRODUCTION

With the growth of computing technology the need of high performance
computers (HPC) has significantly increased. Optics has been used in computing
for a number of years but the main emphasis has been and continues to be to link
portions of computers for communications or more intrinsically in de!ices that
ha!e some optical application or component (optical pattern recognition etc.)

Optical computing was a hot research area in "#$%s.&ut the work tapered
off due to materials limitations that pre!ented optochips from getting small
enough and cheap enough beyond laboratory curiosities. 'ow optical computers
are back with ad!ances in self(assembled conducting organic polymers that
promise super(tiny of all optical chips.
Optical computing technology is in general de!eloping in two directions.
One approach is to build computers that ha!e the same architecture as present
day computers but using optics that is )lectro optical hybrids. *nother approach
is to generate a completely new kind of computer which can perform all
functional operations in optical mode. +n recent years a number of de!ices that
can ultimately lead us to real optical computers ha!e already been manufactured.
,hese include optical logic gates optical switches optical interconnections and
optical memory.
Current trends in optical computing emphasi-e communications for
e.ample the use of free space optical interconnects as a potential solution to
remo!e /&ottlenecks e.perienced in electronic architectures. Optical technology
is one of the most promising and may e!entually lead to new computing
applications as a conse0uence of faster processing speed as well as better
connecti!ity and higher bandwidth.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
2. NEED FOR OPTICAL COMPUTING
,he pressing need for optical technology stems from the fact that todays
computers are limited by the time response of electronic circuits. * solid
transmission medium limits both the speed and !olume of signals as well as
building up heat that damages components.
One of the theoretical limits on how fast a computer can function is gi!en
by )insteins principle that signal cannot propagate faster than speed of light. 1o
to make computers faster their components must be smaller and there by
decrease the distance between them. ,his has resulted in the de!elopment of !ery
large scale integration (231+) technology with smaller de!ice dimensions and
greater comple.ity. ,he smallest dimensions of 231+ nowadays are about
%.%$mm. 4espite the incredible progress in the de!elopment and refinement of
the basic technologies o!er the past decade there is growing concern that these
technologies may not be capable of sol!ing the computing problems of e!en the
current millennium. ,he speed of computers was achie!ed by miniaturi-ing
electronic components to a !ery small micron(si-e scale but they are limited not
only by the speed of electrons in matter but also by the increasing density of
interconnections necessary to link the electronic gates on microchips.
,he optical computer comes as a solution of miniaturi-ing problem.
Optical data processing can perform se!eral operations in parallel much faster
and easier than electrons. ,his parallelism helps in staggering computational
power. 5or e.ample a calculation that takes a con!entional electronic computer
more than "" years to complete could be performed by an optical computer in a
single hour. *ny way we can reali-e that in an optical computer electrons are
replaced by photons the subatomic bits of electromagnetic radiation that make
up light.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
3. SOME KEY OPTICAL COMPONENTS FOR
COMPUTING
,he ma7or breakthroughs on optical computing ha!e been centered on the
de!elopment of micro(optic de!ices for data input.
1. VCSEL (VERTICAL CAVITY SURFACE EMITTING
LACER)
2C1)3 (pronounced /!i.el) is a semiconductor !ertical ca!ity surface
emitting laser diode that emits light in a cylindrical beam !ertically from the
surface of a fabricated wafer and offers significant ad!antages when compared
to the edge(emitting lasers currently used in the ma7ority of fiber optic
communications de!ices. ,he principle in!ol!ed in the operation of a 2C1)3 is
!ery similar to those of regular lasers.
,here are two special semiconductor materials sandwiching an acti!e
layer where all the action takes place. &ut rather than reflecti!e ends in a
2C1)3 there are se!eral layers of partially reflecti!e mirrors abo!e and below
the acti!e layer. 3ayers of semiconductors with differing compositions create
these mirrors and each mirror reflects a narrow range of wa!elengths back in to
the ca!ity in order to cause light emission at 7ust one wa!elength.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
2. SLM (SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS)
139 play an important role in se!eral technical areas where the control of
light on a pi.el(by(pi.el basis is a key element such as optical processing and
displays. 5or display purposes the desire is to ha!e as many pi.els as possible in
as small and cheap a de!ice as possible.
3. SMART PIXEL TECHNOLOGY
1mart pi.el technology is a relati!ely new approach to integrating
electronic circuitry and optoelectronic de!ices in a common framework. ,he
purpose is to le!erage the ad!antages of each indi!idual technology and pro!ide
impro!ed performance for specific applications. Here the electronic circuitry
pro!ides comple. functionality and programmability while the optoelectronic
de!ices pro!ide high(speed switching and compatibility with e.isting optical
media.
4. WDM (WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING)
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
Wa!elength di!ision multiple.ing is a method of sending many different
wa!elengths down the same optical fiber. ;sing this technology modern
networks in which indi!idual lasers can transmit at "% gigabits per second
through the same fiber at the same time.
W49 can transmit up to 86 wa!elengths through a single fiber but
cannot meet the bandwidth re0uirements of the present day communication
systems. 1o nowadays 4W49 (4ense wa!elength di!ision multiple.ing) is
used. ,his can transmit up to "%%% wa!elengths through a single fiber. ,hat is by
using this we can impro!e the bandwidth efficiency.
OPTICAL INTERCONNECTION OF CIRCUIT BOARDS USING
VCSEL AND PHOTODIODE
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
2C1)3 con!ert the electrical signal to optical signal when the light beams
are passed through a pair of lenses and micromirrors. 9icromirrors are used to
direct the light beams and this light rays is passed through a polymer wa!eguide
which ser!es as the path for transmitting data instead of copper wires in
electronic computers. ,hen these optical beams are again passed through a pair of
lenses and sent to a photodiode. ,his photodiode con!ert the optical signal back
to the electrical signal.
SLM FOR DISPLAY PURPOSES
5or display purposes the desire is to ha!e as many pi.els as
possible in as small and cheap a de!ice as possible. 5or such purposes designing
silicon chips for use as spatial light modulators has been effecti!e. ,he basic idea
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
is to ha!e a set of memory cells laid out on a regular grid. ,hese cells are
electrically connected to metal mirrors such that the !oltage on the mirror
depends on the !alue stored in the memory cell. * layer of optically acti!e li0uid
crystal is sandwiched between this array of mirrors and a piece of glass with a
conducti!e coating. ,he !oltage between indi!idual mirrors and the front
electrode affects the optical acti!ity of li0uid crystal in that neighborhood. Hence
by being able to indi!idually program the memory locations one can set up a
pattern of optical acti!ity in the li0uid crystal layer.
4. ROLE OF NLO IN OPTICAL COMPUTING
,he role of nonlinear materials in optical computing has become
e.tremely significant. 'on(linear materials are those which interact with light
and modulate its properties. 1e!eral of the optical components re0uire efficient
nonlinear materials for their operations. What in fact restrains the widespread use
of all optical de!ices is the in efficiency of currently a!ailable nonlinear
materials which re0uire large amount of energy for responding or switching.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
Organic materials ha!e many features that make them desirable for use in
optical de!ices such as
". High nonlinearities
6. 5le.ibility of molecular design
8. 4amage resistance to optical radiations
1ome organic materials belonging to the classes of phthalocyanines and
polydiacetylenes are promising for optical thin films and wa!e guides. ,hese
compounds e.hibit strong electronic transitions in the !isible region and ha!e
high chemical and thermal stability up to :%% degree Celsius. Polydiacetylenes
are among the most widely in!estigated class of polymers for nonlinear optical
applications. ,heir subpicosecond time response to laser signals makes them
candidates for high(speed optoelectronics and information processing.
,o make thin polymer film for electro(optic applications '*1* scientists
dissol!e a monomer (the building block of a polymer) in an organic sol!ent. ,his
solution is then put into a growth cell with a 0uart- window shining a laser
through the 0uart- can cause the polymer to deposit in specific pattern.
. ADVANCES IN PHOTONIC SWITCHES

3ogic gates are the building blocks of any digital system. *n optical logic
gate is a switch that controls one light beam by another? it is O' when the de!ice
transmits light and it is O55 when it blocks the light.
,o demonstrate the *'4 gate in the phthalocyanine film two focused
collinear laser beams are wa!e guided through a thin film of phthalocyanine.
'anosecond green pulsed 'd@A*B laser was used together with a red continuous
Dept. of ECE MESCE Kuttippuram $
Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
wa!e (cw) He('e beam. *t the output a narrow band filter was set to block the
green beam and allow only the He('e beam. ,hen the transmitted beam was
detected on an oscilloscope. +t was found that the transmitted He('e cw beam
was pulsating with a nanosecond duration and in synchronous with the input
'd@A*B nanosecond pulse. ,his demonstrated the characteristic table of an
*'4 logic gate.
EXPLANATION OF COMPONENTS USED IN OPTICAL AND
GATE
1. H!"N! #$%!&
,his is the most widely used laser with continuous power output (cw
laser) in the fraction of "mW to "%%mW. +t is relati!ely easy to construct and is
reliable in operation.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
,his was the first gas laser consists of a fused 0uart- tube with a diameter
of about "cm and length about $%cm. ,he tube is filled with a mi.ture of helium
and neon gases in the ratio "%@". ,he ends of the tube ha!e &rewster windows.
,here are two reflectors and pumping takes place due to the electron impact.
WORKING
* few energy le!els of HeC'e atoms which correspond to the important
laser transitions are shown in figure.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
When the D5 discharge at about 8%9H- is passed through He('e gas
mi.ture the He atoms colliding with the electrons recei!e the energy and they
are e.cited to le!els 56 and 58 from 5". ,he energy le!els 56C58 are
metastable. 'e atoms also ha!e energy le!els ):C)= which ha!e nearly the same
energy as 56C58. ;ne.cited 'e atoms colliding with the e.cited He atoms are
e.cited and taken to the metastable states ):C)=. Population density in ):C)=
increases at this stage and appropriate photons can initiate laser emission.
1timulated emission takes place from )= to )< )= to )8 and ): to )8. 5rom the
le!el )8 by spontaneous emission the atoms come to the le!el )6 and there after
by colliding with the walls de(e.citation takes place and the atoms come to the
ground state. ,he emitted photons mo!e two and fro within the gas between the
end mirrors. ,hrough the partially reflecting surface laser output is obtained.
2. N'(YAG #$%!&

'eodymium@Attrium *luminium Barnet is a solid state four le!el laser
system.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
,he optically e.cited 'eodymium ions from the bands )"C)6 0uickly
decay to the metastable upper laser le!el. ,he difference in energy is transferred
to the crystal lattice. ,he upper lifetime is about 68%micro second. +t is 0uite
long so population can be accumulated o!er a relati!ely long time during the
pumping cycle. +n this le!el (upper laser le!el) the ions are stimulated by
photons due to spontaneous emission to emit on the main ".%=:micrometer laser.
,he ions are dropped to a lower laser le!el. ,hey 0uickly lea!e again by
transferring the energy to the crystal lattice.
3. CONVEX LENS

,hese are used to con!erge the light after passing through the
phthalocyanine film.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
4. FILTER
'arrow band filter was set to block the 'd@A*B laser beam and pass only
He('e laser beam.
. DETECTOR

,he purpose of the detector is to con!ert the optical laser (He('e laser)
signal into electrical signal.
). OSCILLOSCOPE
Oscilloscope is used to !iew the *'4 gate properties of the two laser
beams after it was passed through a phthalocyanine film.
OPTICAL NAND GATE
+n an optical '*'4 gate the phthalocyanine film is replaced by a hollow
fiber filled with polydiacetylene. 'd@A*B green picosecond laser pulse was sent
collinearly with red cw He('e laser onto one end of the fiber. *t the other end of
the fiber a lens was focusing the output on to the narrow slit of a monochrometer
with its grating set for the red He('e laser. When both He('e laser and 'd@A*B
laser are present there will be no output at the oscilloscope. +f either one or none
of the laser beams are present we get the output at the oscilloscope showing
'*'4 function.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
Dept. of ECE MESCE Kuttippuram ":
Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
). OPTICAL MEMORY
+n optical computing two types of memory are discussed. One consists of
arrays of one(bit(store elements and other is mass storage which is implemented
by optical disks or by holographic storage systems. ,his type of memory
promises !ery high capacity and storage density. ,he primary benefits offered by
holographic optical data storage o!er current storage technologies include
significantly higher storage capacities and faster read(out rates. ,his research is
e.pected to lead to compact high capacity rapid(and random(access and low
power and low cost data storage de!ices necessary for future intelligent
spacecraft. ,he 139s are used in optical data storage applications. ,hese de!ices
are used to write data into the optical storage medium at high speed.
9ore con!entional approaches to holographic storage use ion doped
lithium niobate crystals to store pages of data.

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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
*. APPLICATIONS
1. H+,- %.!!' /01123+/$4+03%
,he rapid growth of internet e.panding at almost "<E per month
demands faster speeds and larger bandwidth than electronic circuits can pro!ide.
,erabits speeds are needed to accommodate the growth rate of internet since in
optical computers data is transmitted at the speed of light which is of the order of
8 "%F$ mGsec hence terabit speeds are attainable.
6. Optical crossbar interconnects are used in asynchronous transfer modes and
shared memory multiprocessor systems.
8. Process satellite data.
OPTICAL DISKS
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
WORKING
,he >$%nm light emitted from *lBa*sGBa*s laser diodes is collimated by
a lens and focused to a diameter of about "micrometer on the disk. +f there is no
pit where the light is incident it is reflected at the *l mirror of the disk and
returns to the lens the depth of the pit is set at a !alue such that the difference
between the path of the light reflected at a pit and the path of light reflected at a
mirror is an integral multiple of half(wa!elength conse0uently if there is a pit
where light is incident the amount of reflected light decreases tremendously
because the reflected lights are almost cancelled by interference. ,he incident
and reflected beams pass through the 0uarter wa!e plate and all reflected light is
introduced to the photodiode by the beam splitter because of the polari-ation
rotation due to the 0uarter wa!e plate. &y the photodiode the reflected light
which has a signal whether a pit is on the disk or not is changed into an electrical
signal.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
5. MERITS
". Optical computing is at least "%%% to "%%%%% times faster than todays
silicon machines.
6. Optical storage will pro!ide an e.tremely optimi-ed way to store data
with space re0uirements far lesser than todays silicon chips.
8. 1uper fast searches through databases.
:. 'o short circuits light beam can cross each other without interfering with
each others data.
<. 3ight beams can tra!el in parallel and no limit to number of packets that
can tra!el in the photonic circuits.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
6. DRAWBACKS
". ,odays materials re0uire much high power to work in consumer
products coming up with the right materials may take fi!e years or more.
6. Optical computing using a coherent source is simple to compute and
understand but it has many drawbacks like any imperfections or dust on
the optical components will create unwanted interference pattern due to
scattering effects. +ncoherent processing on the other hand cannot store
phase information.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
17. FUTURE TRENDS
,he 9inistry of +nformation ,echnology has initiated a photonic
de!elopment program. ;nder this program some funded pro7ects are continuing
in fiber optic high(speed network systems. Desearch is going on for de!eloping
new laser diodes photodetectors and nonlinear material studies for faster
switches. Desearch efforts on nanoparticle thin film or layer studies for display
de!ices are also in progress. *t the +ndian +nstitute of ,echnology (++,)
9umbai efforts are in progress to generate a white light source from a diode(
case based fiber amplifier system in order to pro!ide W49 communication
channels.
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
11. CONCLUSION
Desearch in optical computing has opened up new possibilities in
se!eral fields related to high performance computing high(speed
communications. *s opto electronic and smart pi.el de!ices mature software
de!elopment will ha!e a ma7or impact in future.
Dept. of ECE MESCE Kuttippuram 6"
Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
12. REFERENCES
". D)1O'*'C)(* Hournal Of 1cience )ducation
Huly 6%%8
6. OP,+C 5+&)D CO99;'+C*,+O' PD+'C+P3) *'4 PD*C,+1)
Hohn.9.1enior
8. OP,O)3)C,DO'+C1
Wilson.H H.5.&.Hankes
:. www.msfc.nasa.go!
<. www.sciam.com
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. NEED FOR OPTICAL COMPUTING
3. SOME KEY OPTICAL COMPONENTS FOR COMPUTING
4. ROLE OF NLO IN OPTICAL COMPUTING
. ADVANCES IN PHOTONIC SWITCHES
). OPTICAL MEMORY
*. APPLICATIONS
5. MERITS
6. DRAW BACKS
17. FUTURE TRENDS
11. CONCLUSION
12. REFERENCES
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Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
ABSTRACT
Optical computing means performing computations operations storage
and transmission of data using light. +nstead of silicon chips optical computer
uses organic polymers like phthalocyanine and polydiacetylene.Optical
technology promises massi!e upgrades in the efficiency and speed of computers
as well as significant shrinkage in their si-e and cost. *n optical desktop
computer is capable of processing data up to "%%%%% times faster than current
models.
Dept. of ECE MESCE Kuttippuram 6:
Optical Computing Technology Seminar Report 03
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
+ e.tend my sincere thanks to P&08. P.V.A9'2# H$1!!': Head of
the 4epartment )lectronics and Communication )ngineering for pro!iding
me his in!aluable guidance for the 1eminar.
+ e.press my sincere gratitude to my 1eminar Coordinator and 1taff
in Charge M&. M$30; K for his cooperation and guidance in the preparation
and presentation of this seminar.
+ also e.tend my sincere thanks to all the faculty members of
)lectronics and Communication 4epartment for their support and
encouragement.
S-$+3< M
Dept. of ECE MESCE Kuttippuram 6<