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- 2010-3-26
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本帖{zh1}由 asd053 于 2010-5-23 10:41 编辑
Optical computing's bright future
光计算可观的未来
Light without logic
无逻辑之光
Optical devices are finally going inside computers, but only in parts
光学设备终于还是走进了计算机，虽然只是一部分而已。
“GOD is light”, says the Bible. Light is also a source of inspiration in computing. Ever since the first optical transistors were developed in the late 1980s, researchers have dreamed of building a light-powered computer, radiating with knowledge. Yet this breakthrough has proved elusive. Now, however, new developments mean that optical technologies are starting to appear inside computers. The all-optical computer remains a dream, but selected components that can work with light will make their way into computers ever more deeply.
xx说，”神是光”。光也能够作为计算机运作的驱动源。至从{dy}个光电传感器在20世纪八十年代末期面世后，研究者们就一直梦想建造一个展现高科技的光能计算机。这种理念却被证明难以被研发。然而，当代的科技的发展让光学科技开始走进计算机。虽然全光计算机依旧是个梦想，但从此对选择光驱动元件在计算机中应用的研究变得更加深入。
It is easy to see the attraction of replacing electrons, which travel along copper wires and make today’s computers tick, with photons. These particles of light are the fastest things in the universe, so an optical computer could theoretically process information at speeds that make even a supercomputer look glacial. So far, however, optical technology has been confined mostly to telecoms networks and some of the cabling in data centres. Photons are ideal for piping information over long distances. They whizz through optical fibres, rarely getting lost or interfering with one another (which is why different coloured signals can be sent down a single fibre, to multiply its capacity).
电子通过铜线传输，使当今电脑（以时序周期方式）工作，而用光子替代电子的吸引力（好处）是显而易见的。光粒子是宇宙中速度最快的东西，所以理论上，一台光学计算机处理信息的速度甚至可以觉得超级计算机也很缓慢。然而迄今为止，光学科技的发展几乎一直被电信网络与一些数据中心的电缆所限制。光子适用于长距离传输信息。它们通过光纤飞速传输，几乎不丢失数据也不被其他东西干扰（这就是为什么不同的信号可以在同一根光纤中传输以倍乘它的容量）。
But at each end of the fibre, optical signals must be converted to and from the electrical signals that computers use to process information. The components that do such conversion are expensive. This does not matter in a network, where costs can be spread among many users. But this expense has kept optical data-links from being used inside personal computers and servers. That is now changing because computer systems are outrunning their electrical wiring. Peripheral devices like printers, hard drives and screens are getting more demanding; networks are running faster and, most importantly, the power of processors continues to increase exponentially. The so-called “interconnects” between all these components are struggling to keep up. It is in this area where a number of new optical alternatives are emerging from some of the biggest firms in the business.
但是在传输结束时，光信号都必须要转变为电信号以供计算机处理信息。而转换元件却非常昂贵。虽然这种花销对网络来说不算什么，因为可以平摊到众多的用户中去。但对于个人计算机与服务器来说，这种光数据链接就显得相当昂贵。如今，因为计算机系统脱离了电线，这种状况正在发生改变。像打印机，硬盘和屏幕这些外部设备的要求越来越高；网络运行速度更快，最为重要的是计算机的处理能力继续成指数的增长。这些导致所有的这些器件间所谓的”互联”也要尽量跟上它们发展的速度。这就是光学替代领域的市场正在那些{zd0}的公司中崛起的原因。
Data in a flash
闪存中的数据
One of these new interconnects, called Light Peak, has been developed by Intel. It is being used to give ordinary PCs the ability to connect with other devices using high-speed optical cables at ten gigabits per second—20 times faster than a standard USB cable. This means the cable could drive a high-definition display or transfer a movie in seconds. Light Peak, predicts Mario Paniccia, the head of Intel’s photonics lab, will make optical connections as pervasive as wireless ones—and drive demand for more powerful processors, which explains Intel’s interest.
因特尔公司研发出来一种新型互联技术，我们叫它”Light Peak”。这种用于联接计算机与外部其他设备间高速传输的光缆速率可达10Gb/s，是普通USB线速率的20倍。这意味着它可以驱动高清显示或者在几秒钟的时间内传输一部电影。因特尔光子实验室负责人Mario Paniccia预测，Light Peak会让光传输像无线传输一样普及——并且促进更强大的处理器的研发，这就是因特尔公司的利益所在。
Intel did not have to invent anything new, but it did have to work out how to make small, cheap versions of the converters that turn electrical signals into light and vice versa. Having developed a simplified, low-cost chip to do the job, Intel also devised ways to assemble and test the components quickly, and signed up a group of suppliers to churn them out by the million, starting next year.
因特尔不需要发明任何新的产品，他们要做的是如何让这种将光信号与电信号进行相互转换的设备变得更小、更便宜。以往的经验中可以知道，低成本芯片能起到简化的作用，因特尔还研究出如何更快的组装和测试元件，并与一个供应集团签署了一个从明年开始的百万生产量的合同。
Hewlett-Packard’s concern is keeping its servers competitive: their cabling is getting bulkier, and data centres are becoming much harder to cool and increasingly energy hungry. So it is developing an optical replacement for the interconnects in server “racks”. Instead of optical fibre, HP is using waveguides—small strips of plastic with grooves on their highly reflective metallic walls. Again, using this technology to transmit light is not a new thing, but HP’s researchers have managed to cut costs by making waveguides with an injection-moulding system similar to that used to mass-produce CDs.
而惠普关心的是保持它服务器的竞争力：它们的电缆越来越庞大，数据中心难以降温并急需能源。所以其正在研究一种光互连以替代服务器”机架”。惠普用波导代替了光缆，一种内附高反射性金属内壁的小型塑料管。虽然应用这种技术来传输光已经不新鲜了，但惠普的研究者们更为成功的通过运用注塑模具系统来降低制造波导的成本，该系统曾用于大规模批量生产光盘。
Over at IBM, researchers are using optical interconnects to make supercomputers run faster. To speed up the flow of data, electrons need to be turned into photons “as close as possible to where the signal is processed”, explains Bert Offrein of IBM Research. For this reason, it is mounting fibre-optic cables straight onto the chips that direct the traffic between a supercomputer’s multiple processors.
再看看IBM公司，研究者们正在通过光学链接让超级计算机运行更快。IBM研究院的Bert Offrein解释道：“要想提高数据流，就需要在信号被处理的前一瞬间将电子转换成光子”。因此，越来越多的光纤电缆直接应用到芯片上以建立超级计算机多处理器间的直接通信。
The idea of using similar optical interconnects between a computer’s various components is, based on existing technology, not something that is about to appear in humble home or office PCs any time soon. It is hard to make such components small and cheap enough to compete with copper wiring. But one technology that does show promise in making such connections is called “silicon photonics”. It uses similar methods to those employed to manufacture processors and other types of integrated circuits.
基于现有科技，在计算机不同元件间使用同种光学链接的想法并不是要在近期内出现于贫困家庭或办公电脑。虽然如今还很难制造出足够微型及便宜的元件去与铜线竞争。但此时“硅光子技术”给了我们建立这种通信的信心。一些公司也在用类似的方法制造处理器和不同型号的集成电路。
Conveniently, silicon is not a bad material for making optical devices. Researchers at HP Labs recently managed to etch a pattern into a flat piece of silicon so that it could focus light “like a spoon”, says Raymond Beausoleil of HP Labs. This effect, he says, could be used to improve lasers and replace expensive lenses in DVD players and other consumer products.
并且硅还是一种制造光学设备不错的材料。惠普实验室的Raymond Beausoleil称，其研究院最近成功的将晶格蚀刻在一片平坦的硅片上以至于能像匙状物般聚焦光。这样的话就能用来增强激光和替换DVD播放器与其他消费品上昂贵的镜头。
For its part, IBM has used silicon to develop a fast and extremely thin photodetector to convert optical signals into electrical ones. And Intel has come up with an entire kit of tiny optical devices made of silicon, which it hopes one day to combine on optical chips, such as waveguides and lasers. But one vital building block is missing from Intel’s kit: an optical equivalent of the transistors that perform the logical operations at the heart of a computer.
就其本身来说，IBM已经使用硅来研发一种超薄快速型光电探测器来讲光信号转换成电信号。因特尔公司也希望有{yt}能将一整套硅制微型光学设备像波导和激光器一样在光学芯片上结合。但因特尔的工具包里还欠缺一个重要的部分：一个等效于晶体管的光学器件，能在计算机内核执行逻辑运算。
This missing bit does not surprise David Miller of the Photonics Research Centre at Stanford University. Optical transistors, he says, will have a hard time competing with electrical ones, not least because there is no agreement over the best way to build them. Various techniques for making optical transistors regularly appear in laboratories. But using light to process information is tricky, requires exotic materials and lasers that demand more power than conventional transistors. Moreover, miniaturisation is not straightforward, not least because lasers cannot be made as small as transistors. So mass-produced optical processors remain far off. But at least the other bits are on the way.
斯坦福大学光电研究中心的David Miller认为这种缺失一点都不稀奇。光电晶体管难以与电子晶体管竞争，这不仅仅是因为没有一项协议提供{zh0}的制造方式。各种制造光电晶体管的技术陆续在实验室出现。但用光学处理信息是非常复杂的，它需要进口材料与比传统晶体管更高的功耗。此外，小型化的困难尤其体现于激光器无法做得像晶体管一样小。所以，虽然大规模生产光处理器还任重道远，但至少它已经启程了。 |
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