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Detecting edges of images at the speed of light

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2025-01-27 00:00:09

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Physicists from the group of Jorik van de Groep at the UvA-Institute of Physics have devised a new method that can be used to detect edges of images in an extremely energy efficient and ultrafast way. The results were recently published in the journal ACS Photonics.

The energy cost of computation and data processing has become one of the most significant energy problems for our society. It is set to keep increasing its footprint in the future, as software demands keep increasing and current hardware is unable to provide a reliable answer. As such, over the past years, research into alternative methods of computation which are ultrafast and require minimal energy consumption has drawn significant attention.

One method of alternative computation is known as optical analog computing. In this method, mathematical operations are performed using light, even before it is captured by a camera. Since optical analog computing devices are passive—that is, they do not need electrical power—almost no energy is consumed, and moreover, the operation is literally done at the speed of light.