New, fast computer uses fiber optics and light pulses

Ars Technica : Two teams of researchers have developed Ising machines that use light pulses that travel through a fiber-optic racetrack to make computations. Traditional Ising models solve algorithms by using tiny magnets that can be individually tuned to align a particular way relative to every other magnet. The new system relies instead on artificially coupling light pulses via their phases and amplitudes. A light-based computer can be much more easily scaled up in size. The researchers have already demonstrated that their systems can handle some 2048 bits. An Ising machine works differently from a classical computer in that it provides a good, but not necessarily the best, solution to a given problem. However, an Ising machine is much speedier—in this case, 10 times as fast as a classical computer given the same problem.