Communications of the ACM
Building a Computer With a Single Atom
Tulane University's Gerard McCaul and his colleagues proposed a non-linear single-atom computer with input information encoded directly into light, and output also in the form of light.
Credit: SciTechDaily
When we define a "computer" as any device that processes information through input and output, it raises the questions of what objects can perform these computations and how small can these computers be. With transistors reaching the limits of miniaturization, finding answers to these questions becomes crucial, as they could lead to the development of a new computing paradigm.
In a new study published in EPJ Plus by researchers from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, Gerard McCaul and his team demonstrate that atoms, one of the most basic building blocks of matter, can act as a reservoir for computing where all input-output processing is optical.
"We had the idea that the capacity for computation is a universal property that all physical systems share, but within that paradigm, there is a great profusion of frameworks for how one would go about actually trying to perform computations," McCaul says.
From SciTechDaily
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