by Bryan Uber

Created on: August 20, 2009

The benefits of having computers encompassed in every day life is clearly benefical. However, with this transition a greater demand will be placed on the computers ability to process the data. The cost to increase a computer's processing power is expensive because the physical ability of the electrical system is reaching a peak in their preformance. The solution to this problem is a photonic computer. Photonic computers use photonic energy instead of electricity to store, manipulate, and transmit data. The speed of a photon is 3108 m/s. Since the speed of light is significantly faster then electricity it would make logical sence to harness this property. Great effort has already been taken to create a computer that opporates on photonic energy with better preformance then conventional computers. The only success that has been seen is in the laboratory and there has yet to be a photonic computer released to the public. The purpose of this report is to explain the componets of a photonic computer and to analyze how photonic energy is manipulated to preform a desired computaional function.

The majority of computers today operate on electricity, but with technological advancements, computers will soon operate on photonic energy. The main component of a photonic computer is light. The term light is usually misinterpreted because the definition is too broad. The production of light occurs by exciting electrons in an atom to a higher energy level. An electron is bumped to a higher energy level by using heat, light or electricity. Then the electron falls back down to a more stable lower energy level. As the electron returns to the lower energy level it releases a photon. The photon that is released is the product of the energy that excited the electron to the higher energy level. Each photon emitted from a specific energy level will have a wavelength that correlates. Therefore, it would be desirable to be able to control a specific wavelength in order to control a desired function. This can be accomplished by using a laser as one of the main components of a photonic computer.

A laser is a mechanism that can control the release of photons. The term laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. In order to ensure the proper function and efficiency of a laser, the lasing medium needs be intense to ensure that the atoms are excited to a level two or three times that of their ground state. This

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