14 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 1 hour ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_optics

      Very real stuff (I have a PhD on this)

      • oersted 6 minutes ago
        This is the third sentence.

        > 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?

      • Y_Y 53 minutes ago
        At milliwatt power, and terahertz frequency?
        • PowerElectronix 38 minutes ago
          I guess it's a theoretical limit as in the material can change properties that fast given a fast light signal.
      • amelius 55 minutes 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 1 hour ago
          Theranos demonstrated that they'll bite at anything.
  • georgeburdell 22 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 0 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 13 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.
  • jurschreuder 1 hour 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 52 minutes ago
      What's this photonic Tiny Tapeout?
  • 1e1a 1 hour ago
    Finally! This paves the way towards practical BrainF*** execution.
  • 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 1 hour ago
    The channel's other uploads may be giving us a glimpse into this project's future.
    • JoshTriplett 1 hour ago
      Yup. UFO conspiracies, aliens on the moon, PSI...
  • 12ah5kl 3 hours ago
    Interesting topic, unreadable due to sloppification.
    • flecomet 20 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
  • dvh 3 hours ago
    > Photonics

    So also 1000x smaller integration

    • amelius 2 hours ago
      Why?
      • dvh 8 minutes ago
        Light is hundreds of nanometers, smallest "transistor" cannot be much smaller than wavelength.
  • Y_Y 58 minutes ago
    In honour of Akhenaten? Cool.
    • nekusar 4 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)

  • mbfg 3 hours ago
    interesting that it is still 2 bit
    • kmoser 49 minutes ago
      Do you mean as opposed to operating in an analog fashion? My guess is because keeping it digital means it is as close a possible to a drop-in replacement for today's electronic digital computers, including all the firmware, OS, and software that has already been written for them.
  • metalman 1 hour ago
    akhetonics-photonic-computing 1000x-faster-cpus, in mice
  • peter_d_sherman 3 days ago
    [dead]
  • Lucasoato 2 hours ago
    [flagged]