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Analog optical computing

Nature Photonics volume 9, pages 704–706 (2015)Cite this article

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The concept of optical computing is reintroduced with an important new twist — optical computing not as a digital machine, but as an analog engine able to serve as a hardware accelerator for existing electronic computers.

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Figure 1: The sextant is an analog instrument for maritime navigation, widely used before the days of the Global Positioning System.

© NOAA

Figure 2: Experimental measurement of nonlinear dynamics in optical fibre.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) MURI programme on Optical Computing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Daniel Solli and Bahram Jalali are in the Electrical Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA,

    Daniel R. Solli & Bahram Jalali

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  1. Daniel R. Solli
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Correspondence to Daniel R. Solli or Bahram Jalali.

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Solli, D., Jalali, B. Analog optical computing. Nature Photon 9, 704–706 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.208

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