A Microsoft analog optical computer has solved two optimization problems and shown potential for AI workloads using less energy.

A device that processes infinitely varying signals, such as voltage or frequencies. A thermometer is a simple analog computer. As the temperature varies, the mercury moves correspondingly. A slide ...

The concept of optical computing is reintroduced with an important new twist — optical computing not as a digital machine, but as an analog engine able to serve as a hardware accelerator for existing ...

The prototype is built from commercially available parts, including micro-LEDs, optical lenses, and sensors from smartphone ...

Editor’s Note: This article came about from another article called “Circuits without wires” in which a comment by Arthur Glazar led to my discovery of this gem of an article, thanks to my colleague ...

Microsoft has built a prototype computer that uses light and analog signals instead of traditional binary computing.

If you have had trouble with ordinary calculus, you may not be pleased to hear about “photonic calculus” — a recent idea from [Nader Engheta] of the University of Pennsylvania. The idea is that ...

A new study shows that metamaterials can be designed to do "photonic calculus" as a light wave goes through them. A light wave, when described in terms of space and time, has a profile that can be ...

In 1961, the best general purpose desktop computer money could buy was the Pace TR-48. At just 400 pounds and $25K, the only downside was that it was a little tough to program. That's because the ...

I have sometimes wondered if we shouldn't bring back a modern version of an analog computer. Does that make sense? Maybe it could be a solution to some ugly calculus-intensive problem like in a ...

Recent progress on both analog and digital simulations of quantum fields foreshadows a future in which quantum computers ...