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Posted by peter_d_sherman 3 days ago

Akhetonics Photonic Computing: 1,000x Faster CPUs(medium.com)
48 points | 33 comments
amelius 2 hours ago|
So they have some kind of nonlinear material that can make light modulate other light, that they managed to get working at teraherz frequencies?

Sounds incredible, as in: can't believe it.

By the way, isn't Nvidia researching this?

ziofill 2 hours ago||
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_optics

Very real stuff (I have a PhD on this)

oersted 43 minutes ago|||
This is the second sentence:

> Nonlinear phenomena become relevant only when the input light is very intense. Typically, in order to observe nonlinear phenomena, an intensity of the electromagnetic field of light larger than 108 V/m (and thus comparable to the atomic electric field of ~1011 V/m) is required.

I don’t know anything about this field. Can you address this point? How close are we to overcoming this in academia?

amelius 33 minutes ago||
10^8 V/m, yeah that is quite a lot, 100V per micron or 1MV/cm. Even if it works it's going to have reliability issues, especially since the structures are not going to be perfect.
Y_Y 1 hour ago||||
At milliwatt power, and terahertz frequency?
PowerElectronix 1 hour ago||
I guess it's a theoretical limit as in the material can change properties that fast given a fast light signal.
amelius 1 hour ago|||
I mean, researchers have been trying for years, what is different now?
octoberfranklin 2 hours ago||
Yes; this material is called "snake oil".
amelius 2 hours ago||
Let's see if the investors bite.
wartywhoa23 2 hours ago||
Theranos demonstrated that they'll bite at anything.
jurschreuder 2 hours ago||
It's just as if he had the brilliant idea to do photonics as an outcast even though there is already a 6" wafer semi-production level fablab being built for it in The Netherlands. There is even a version of TinyTapeout for Photonics.
Y_Y 1 hour ago|
What's this photonic Tiny Tapeout?
1e1a 1 hour ago||
Finally! This paves the way towards practical BrainF*** execution.
9dev 27 minutes ago|
We're all adults here, you can spell out BrainFuck just fine.
himata4113 2 hours ago||
This comes up every couple of years, but it hasn't seem to have made any advances since the first time I've seen this.
akifbayram 2 hours ago||
The channel's other uploads may be giving us a glimpse into this project's future.
JoshTriplett 2 hours ago|
Yup. UFO conspiracies, aliens on the moon, PSI...
12ah5kl 3 hours ago||
Interesting topic, unreadable due to sloppification.
flecomet 56 minutes ago||
"The first thing to understand about Akhetonics’ optical computer is that it’s not one thing yet." Great, that is such a good explanation. Thanks ChatGPT I guess.
yuhmahp 2 hours ago||
Now it's a good case to use your own ai to un-sloppify
georgeburdell 58 minutes ago||
I didn’t read but I’d also like to point out photonics are 1000x larger than leading edge electronics with minimal path to scaling smaller. I don’t see a free lunch
userbinator 36 minutes ago||
Basically the density of early CPUs (1970s), but 1000x faster than those, or current CPUs? Like a 1GHz 6502, or a 1THz 6502? The former is not really better, but the latter might interesting.
gchamonlive 49 minutes ago||
There ain't no free lunch, but real progress rarely depend on it. It's usually lunch we weren't eating before, or a different way to eat the same lunch but with much more satisfaction.
dvh 3 hours ago||
> Photonics

So also 1000x smaller integration

amelius 2 hours ago|
Why?
dvh 44 minutes ago||
Light is hundreds of nanometers, smallest "transistor" cannot be much smaller than wavelength.
Y_Y 1 hour ago||
In honour of Akhenaten? Cool.
nekusar 40 minutes ago|
References of Akhenaten is making rounds in modern pagan/occult circles as well. The "Law of One" group is really pushing ancient Egyptian 'pyramid power' stuff.
natas 3 hours ago|
This has been tried by Cray like 15 years ago and the university of Colorado 11 years ago; there were also other initiatives, all failed.

I'm not excluding that now we have more budget/time/AI to make it work (if it can), I'd just say exercise caution reading this (very AI slop) article (and anything that looks too good to be true)

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