Researchers Discover Fastest Light-Driven Process (1Phz)

Researchers discover fastest light-driven process

If this research becomes a consumer-grade method of processing, anytime in the near-future, it would be a computing jump like no other. 10,000x more powerful to be exact. The only type of [theoretical] processing that would be more powerful (in multiple aspects) is a quantum computer.

Dielectrics do not conduct electricity and get damaged or break down if too high of fields of energy are applied to them. The scientists discovered that when dielectrics were given very short and intense laser pulses, they start conducting electricity while remaining undamaged. The fastest time a dielectric can process signals is on the order of 1 femtosecond – the same time as the light wave oscillates and millions of times faster than the second handle of a watch jumps.

Dielectric devices hold promise to allow for much faster computing than possible today with semiconductors. Such a device can work at 1 petahertz, while the processor of today's computer runs slightly faster than at 3 gigahertz.

"Now we can fundamentally have a device that works 10 thousand times faster than a transistor that can run at 100 gigahertz,"

reply to post by Raelsatu

Would you mind to dumb that down a little bit?

It seems interesting to me, even though I don't really know what the hell you're talking about,

What is a 'Phz'?

reply to post by BrokenCircles


Hz in this case refers to the clock speed of the CPU -- Or the frequency at which it runs. Most modern CPUs using semiconductors run at a clock speed of 3-4Ghz. Again this clock speed refers to the frequency at which the CPU processes data/instructions.

In the past decade or two the clock speed has not increased by much, whilst other advances were made to improve the power of processing units. In this case you see a jump from 3Ghz (multiplied by the number of cores in your chip) to 1Phz. That jump in clock speed in unprecedented.

Basically, we're talking about the ability to process and execute data 10,000+ times faster than even the fastest emerging CPUs; an example of the implications here would be a massive jump in real-time 3d rendering & physics. A large boost in simulating molecular, atomic, chemical systems & much more. For practical users that are only using computers to browse the internet or do business, it's non-effectual. For the future internet (metaverse) that processing speed may play its part in the shared virtual space.

What is a PHZ?

Way back in the day some idiot decided to honor Heinrich Hertz by renaming CPS (cycles per second) Hertz. So all you have to do when you see HZ or Hertz is to think CPS instead and it makes sense. The P part is just a scale indicator. In this case it is short for Peta Hertz which is a very high CPS. And please note that the Peta part has nothing to do with another bunch of idiots, PETA.

Just to give you a little FYI...
I belong to the alternate PETA, People Eating Tasty Animals. Our motto is "There is room for all of God's creatures, Right along side the potatoes and gravy".

Hope they can industrialize it. I can remember when IBM designed the first 1GHz switch, that was in the days of the 80386 running at 16MHz. The first PC's ran at 4.77MHz (1981 or thereabouts), and most 8-bit micros ran at 4MHz (Z80 processor) or 2MHz (the 6502).

This topic and thread has been chosen to be discussed by the ATS LIVE crew this Saturday between 6-9pm pst as part of this weeks Turbo Topics segment.


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reply to post by Raelsatu


By the time a "discovery" of this magnitude has been posted on some internet site, you can bet that it (it being this new super computing technology) has already been in use for some time.

I'm not sure how I really feel about it. It makes me uneasy.

It was Einstein (allegedly) who said "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."

A computer 10,000x faster than what I have right now? I can't even keep up with technology NOW, nevermind having to deal with it in a state that is 10,000x more "superior"

example: today's smart phone technology. I am a person who likes to stay behind the times a little bit, as it saves a lot of money not buying the "latest and greatest"
The problem with this, is the companies making these items are making it more and more difficult to do this.
I have an iPhone 3GS. It's barely 3 years old and works flawlessly for what I need it to do, yet iOS 6 will likely be the last update available for it from Apple.

Used to be (not long ago) you paid for a good product and it lasted you years if not decades, or more.

FF to today, and you are surrounded by disposability.

FF to a day when we have a computer that is 10,000x faster than what we have now. How long will that last? 6 months? 2 weeks?

At some point I'm going to get tired of keeping up, run out of money, or both.

reply to post by BrokenCircles


Car analogy?

So let's say it takes your computer 1 second to solve the equation 1+1. It now solves it 10,000 times faster. It's a game changer. A normal user won't really utilize it at first, things are almost instantaneous already, but people that have to crunch a poo ton of data are going to be able to do so 10,000 times faster.

Our technology is advancing at an ever increasing speed, snowballing. The more we advance, the faster we advance. The implications here are HUGE.

Awesome find OP!

The way tecnolidge is incresing it Ludicrous.
it is not following the normal lows of reality.
Every thing we have to day comes from the last 200 years.
and the speed it comes, keeps jumping at a faster and faster rate.
no wonder the Gov hides a lot of it. we should be Gods.

reply to post by Domo1


Thanks for the note. It's true that off the bat most regular people will not be needing this sort of processing power; it would be especially useful for constructing future optical-based supercomputers. The road-map for supercomputers shows the current leader Titan with a 20-27 petaflops peak, and by 2017-2020 they're expecting setups in the exaflop range. Zetaflop by 2030. With a change from silicon substrates to this new dielectric laser-pulse method, it would push us into the exaflop/zetaflop range much quicker (theoretically).

For consumers, a CPU in the Phz range would allow for real-time "cinematic" 3d graphics. Game/engine developers would begin to switch from traditional rasterization rendering to unbiased solutions such as [bidirectional] pathtracing. This allows for physically based lighting, reflections, refraction, & a host of other phenomena. I'm not sure how exactly this would tie in with the GPU. Anyway, combining this level of processing power with emerging tech like the Oculus Rift (VR), precise mm motion tracking, advanced haptic feedback, and even rudimentary brain-computer interfaces --- this will completely revolutionize the way we interact with entertainment & the shared virtual space.

It's only a matter of time here. Unfortunately with the political/military escalations and tensions around the globe, we can't determine for 100 percent whether/how any of this is going to matter in the next decade...

reply to post by HIWATT


Well that's the thing; you may not be able to keep up now; however there's an escape velocity of sorts similar to the proposal of biological immortality. Except in the computing realm it would be the advent of augmenting human intelligence via bionics/nanotech. If you could augment the power of your own brain, this would mean being able to "keep up" in any and all circumstances.

It's 'evolution' occurring on levels of intelligent design, macro & micro. Inherent in nature and consciousness. There's many more aspects to this theory that include running simulations, infinite novelty generators, & the omega point.

reply to post by HIWATT


Your mistake was buying an Apple product.

Fantastic. This probably means our computers will also require 10.000 times as much energy to run, right?

A mini-power plant in every home sounds like a great way to be done with this planet (and this planet with us) much faster.

If our energy needs keeps growing exponentially like this we'll have to find some Type 3 civilization to sponsor us pretty soon.

Originally posted by Raelsatu
reply to post by HIWATT

 

Well that's the thing; you may not be able to keep up now; however there's an escape velocity of sorts similar to the proposal of biological immortality. Except in the computing realm it would be the advent of augmenting human intelligence via bionics/nanotech. If you could augment the power of your own brain, this would mean being able to "keep up" in any and all circumstances.

It's 'evolution' occurring on levels of intelligent design, macro & micro. Inherent in nature and consciousness. There's many more aspects to this theory that include running simulations, infinite novelty generators, & the omega point.

edit on 5-12-2012 by Raelsatu because: (no reason given)

I understand your point but nothing you said has any bearing in current reality. This thread is regarding something of a CURRENT event... not something which may or may not come into play.. what.... possibly 1,000 years from now.

Originally posted by Lucas73
reply to post by HIWATT

 

Your mistake was buying an Apple product.

What would you suggest as an alternative to Apples?

Oranges?

Peaches?

Cherries?

Fanboys....

Originally posted by Symer
Fantastic. This probably means our computers will also require 10.000 times as much energy to run, right?

A mini-power plant in every home sounds like a great way to be done with this planet (and this planet with us) much faster.

If our energy needs keeps growing exponentially like this we'll have to find some Type 3 civilization to sponsor us pretty soon.

No.... It's actually the reverse. The first computers took much more energy to run, and the calculations per second were nothing compared to what we have today. A common example is a smart phone being millions/billions of times more powerful, yet being a handheld low-power electronic device. So 10,000x more cycles per second doesn't mean that much more energy increase; although I do suppose there would be a noticeable increase due to it still being in a rudimentary stage & using high-intensity laser pulses.

As for having a mini power plant in each home, that may become the case soon enough with the advent of LENR/CANR technology & other 'free-energy' devices.

Originally posted by HIWATT
I understand your point but nothing you said has any bearing in current reality. This thread is regarding something of a CURRENT event... not something which may or may not come into play.. what.... possibly 1,000 years from now.

I don't see your point. What I said has everything to deal with this current technology. A increase in computing power like this would be extremely beneficial/useful for more applications that I care to list off right now. You may not see the connection because you don't have knowledge of the extensive & potential uses of it.

On the other hand, you will begin to understand if you live long enough to see the next couple decades. 1000 years? In 1000 years it's impossible to predict or know where we'll be at. We might become eternal, indestructible beings with no physical or mental limits; or Earth might become a wasteland before we have the chance to reach such potential. Extinction or "ascension" are the two options. Stagnation is only temporary.

Again, you have created a thread and a topic which is one of the most interesting present threads on ATS. Nice work,