标题： 每操作飞焦耳的光子计算机用于子集和问题 显示英文标题

标题： Femtojoule-per-operation photonic computer for the subset sum problem

摘要： 在信息时代，节能计算变得越来越重要。然而，由于不可避免的能量密集型数据传输，传统的冯·诺依曼架构电子计算机很难应对这一挑战，尤其是在处理计算困难的问题或复杂任务时。在这里，我们实验性地展示了一种节能的光子计算机，它利用光子极低的能量水平（约10^(-19) J）和飞行时间存储技术来解决难以处理的子集和问题（SSP）。我们表明，在合理较大的问题规模N=33下，光子计算机的能耗每操作不超过10^(-15) J，并且对于中等规模的问题，其能耗比最节能的超级计算机低10^8倍。此外，当光子计算机应用于涉及SSP迭代计算的实际问题时，其在能耗方面的优势进一步增强，可以节省大量能量。我们的结果表明了光子计算机在复杂计算能耗方面的优越竞争力，为绿色计算开辟了一条可能的路径。 显示英文摘要

摘要： Energy-efficient computing is becoming increasingly important in the information era. However, electronic computers with von Neumann architecture can hardly meet the challenge due to the inevitable energy-intensive data movement, especially when tackling computationally hard problems or complicated tasks. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an energy-efficient photonic computer that solves intractable subset sum problem (SSP) by making use of the extremely low energy level of photons (~10^(-19) J) and a time-of-flight storage technique. We show that the energy consumption of the photonic computer maintains no larger than 10^(-15) J per operation at a reasonably large problem size N=33, and it consumes 10^(8) times less energy than the most energy-efficient supercomputer for a medium-scale problem. In addition, when the photonic computer is applied to deal with real-life problems that involves iterative computation of the SSP, the photonic advantage in energy consumption is further enhanced and massive energy can be saved. Our results indicate the superior competitiveness of the photonic computer in the energy costs of complex computation, opening a possible path to green computing.