optical computer

American  

noun

1. an experimental computer that uses photons rather than electrical impulses to process data a thousand times faster than with conventional integrated circuits.

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Example Sentences

Western Europe and Japan are pushing hard toward a still much-in-the-future optical computer that uses photons rather than electrons for number-crunching efficiency.

From Time Magazine Archive

The earliest attempts to build an optical computer date back to the late 1950s, when researchers experimented with mercury-arc lamps and even sunlight.

From Time Magazine Archive

In theory, photons would race through such a machine with near perfect efficiency, which would make an optical computer 1,000 times as fast as the most advanced of modern electronic supercomputers.

From Time Magazine Archive

He's been promising an optical computer for years, and he's still promising.

From Time Magazine Archive

When Alan Huang revealed his plans to build an optical computer, most of his * fellow scientists dismissed the idea as hopelessly quixotic.

From Time Magazine Archive