31 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 10 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 an hour ago

        At milliwatt power, and terahertz frequency?

        • PowerElectronix 41 minutes ago

          I guess it's a theoretical limit as in the material can change properties that fast given a fast light signal.

      • amelius an 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.

  • georgeburdell 26 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 4 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 17 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 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 an hour ago

      What's this photonic Tiny Tapeout?

  • 1e1a an 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 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 24 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 12 minutes ago

        Light is hundreds of nanometers, smallest "transistor" cannot be much smaller than wavelength.

  • Y_Y an hour ago

    In honour of Akhenaten? Cool.

    • nekusar 7 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 an hour 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 2 hours ago

    akhetonics-photonic-computing 1000x-faster-cpus, in mice