"The AOC harnesses light as a medium for solving complex problems, notably optimization challenges found in the worlds of logistics, finance, and healthcare. It uses different light intensities to perform operations such as addition and multiplication. It's also considerably faster at certain problem-solving activities than traditional computers, we're told. The prototype is built from commercially available parts, including micro-LEDs, optical lenses, and sensors from smartphone cameras."
"Since the underlying technology - shunting photons along fiber optic cables - is decades old, much of the hardware does not need to be expensively exotic. While the aim is for a durable and practical machine that can operate at room temperature, and yet still be 100 times faster and 100 times more energy efficient when solving certain problems than conventional hardware, it's highly unlikely to be appear on a desktop anytime soon."
The analog optical computer harnesses light intensities to perform arithmetic operations and to solve complex optimization problems across logistics, finance, and healthcare. The system targets significant speed and energy gains for specific problem classes, aiming for roughly 100× faster performance and 100× greater energy efficiency versus conventional hardware. The prototype uses commercially available components such as micro-LEDs, optical lenses, and smartphone camera sensors, leveraging photon shunting along fiber-optic cables. The device is designed for room-temperature operation, contains 256 weights (up from 64), and could scale to millions or billions of weights. An optimization solver algorithm and a digital twin have been shared to enable external exploration and problem proposals.
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