XPS: EXPL: CCA: Optical Data Containers

今天的计算机系统都是围绕着所谓的冯·诺伊曼体系结构构建的，其中计算子系统和存储子系统是分开设计和考虑的。几十年来，这种模式一直很好地服务于该行业。然而，它确实在这两个子系统之间造成了瓶颈(称为冯·诺伊曼瓶颈)。现代计算机的规模和对数据的依赖程度越来越高，这给冯·诺伊曼瓶颈带来了越来越大的压力，限制了计算机的速度，增加了能源成本。解决这一问题的新技术可以显著改善包括现代数据中心和超级计算机在内的所有计算机，这些计算机在科学、医学、工程、商业和普通公民的日常生活中承担着越来越多的责任。这个项目就是为了开发这样一项技术。研究中心是该项目的一名研究人员最近开发的一种新型纳米设备。这种装置被称为耦合圆盘谐振器，简称CDR。CDR包含两个紧密放置在一起的扁平圆盘。令人着迷的特性是，多亏了技术，这些磁盘可以缩小到纳米级，并精确地放置在近距离。因此，它们可以以各种可控的方式与光相互作用，使计算机设计人员能够建立比今天更好的光通信系统。更令人兴奋的是，CDR可以被操纵来直接执行(简单的)计算，而不必像今天那样首先将光信号转换为电子信号。潜在的结果不仅是高性能的沟通渠道，而且是可以显著缓解冯·诺伊曼瓶颈的智能渠道。在这个项目中，研究人员将对设备和使用这些设备构建的系统的设计进行研究和实验，以努力使这项潜在的技术更接近现实。

Computer systems today are all built around what is called the von Neumann architecture where the computation subsystem and the memory subsystem are separately designed and considered. This model has served the industry well for several decades. It does, however, create a bottleneck (referred as the von Neumann bottleneck) between the two subsystems. The increasing scale and dependence on data in modern computers put more and more stress on the von Neumann bottleneck, limiting computer speed and increasing energy costs. New technologies to address this problem can significantly improve all computers including modern data centers and supercomputers that are shouldering ever more responsibilities in science, medicine, engineering, business and commerce, and everyday life of an average citizen. This project is an effort to develop one such technology.The research centers around a novel nano-scale device recently developed by one of the investigators of the project. The device is called a coupled-disk resonator or CDR for short. CDR contains two flat disks very closely placed together. The fascinating property is that, thanks to technology, these disks can be shrunk down to nano-scale and placed in close proximity precisely. As a result, they can interact with light in a variety of controllable ways that allow computer designers to build superior optical communication systems than possible today. More excitingly, the CDRs can be manipulated to perform (simple) computations directly without having to convert optical signals first to electronic signals as is the case today. The potential outcome is not only high-performance communication channels, but smart ones that can significantly mitigate the von Neumann bottleneck. In this project, the investigators will study and experiment with the designs of both the device and the system built with these devices in an effort to bring this potential technology closer to reality.