Computing at the Speed of Light.
In 2003, a chip's core technology promised 8 trillion operations per second using light. This is the story of the LensLet EnLight256, a concept that was ahead of its time, and whose time has finally come.
8 TOPS
Peak *core* performance in 2003, bottlenecked by the surrounding electronics.
100 POPS
The projected performance of a fully optimized optical architecture like Bluebottle A2.
>25x Efficiency
The fundamental advantage of optical computing over the best modern silicon.
The Core Concept: Vector-Matrix Multiplication with Light
The EnLight256's engine replaced electronic transistors with photons to perform a complex mathematical operation—essential for modern AI—in a single flash of light. Hover over each step to learn more.
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Source Array
(Input Vector)
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Spatial Light Modulator
(The Matrix)
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Detector Array
(Output Vector)
Hover over a diagram component to see details here.
Performance: A Tale of Three Eras
To logically assess the technology's potential, we make fair comparisons: pitting the components of each era against their state-of-the-art digital counterparts.
Era 1: 2003 - A Glimpse of an Unreachable Future
In 2003, the EnLight256's optical core was astoundingly powerful, but its system-level performance was hamstrung by the slow electronics of the day.
Core Performance (Log Scale)
Core Efficiency (TOPS per Watt)
Era 2: Near Future (2025) - The Promise Realized
With modern interconnects, a contemporary optical processor demonstrates a commanding lead in both raw performance and, most critically, power efficiency.
Projected Performance
Projected Efficiency (TOPS per Watt)
Era 3: The Zenith (2027+) - The 'Bluebottle A2' Vision
The ultimate goal: total integration. By co-designing the optical core with on-chip SRAM (1ns latency) and a 100% compiled machine code executor, all remaining overhead is eliminated, unlocking explosive performance gains.
Projected Performance
Projected Efficiency (TOPS per Watt)
Architectural Evolution: From Bottleneck to Fabric
The journey from the 2003 concept to the Bluebottle A2 vision is a story of systematically eliminating bottlenecks through deeper and deeper integration.
1. THEN (c. 2003 System)
The Bottleneck: An ultra-fast core crippled by a slow, external data bus.
2. NOW (Conceptual 2025 System)
The Solution: A high-speed bus allows the core to be properly utilized, unleashing its performance.
3. ZENITH (Bluebottle A2)
Compute Fabric
(Optical Core + Integrated SRAM)
The Integration: The bus is eliminated. Core and memory merge into a single fabric, driven by compiled code for zero-overhead execution.
From Fixed to Fluid: The Matrix Evolves
Beyond the I/O bottleneck, another key limitation was the difficulty in reprogramming the optical matrix. Modern material science has solved this, enabling true general-purpose optical computing.
THEN (c. 2003)
The original Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) was like a fixed stencil. Changing the matrix for different calculations was slow or impossible, limiting it to specialized tasks.
NOW (The Future)
Modern optical processors use phase-change materials like Vanadium Dioxide (VO₂). These materials can instantly change their optical properties, creating a fully reprogrammable matrix on the fly.
The Trillion-Dollar Opportunity
Optical computing isn't just an improvement; it's a fundamental shift in the economics of AI and high-performance computing.
AI Compute Cost Breakdown (Total Cost of Ownership)
Optical computing drastically reduces energy consumption, which can account for over 50% of the total cost of ownership for large-scale AI infrastructure. This translates to direct, massive savings.
Massive Market
The AI hardware market is projected to exceed $400 billion by 2027. Optical processors are positioned to capture a significant share of this rapidly growing TAM.
Sustainable AI (ESG)
Dramatically lower power consumption addresses the growing environmental concerns of AI, aligning with global sustainability goals and attracting ESG-focused investment.
Defensible Moat
This technology represents a paradigm shift, not an incremental improvement. Early movers will build a strong, defensible IP portfolio in a category silicon cannot compete in on efficiency.
The Future is Built with Light
With historical bottlenecks resolved and a clear path to total integration through the Bluebottle A2 vision, the principles of the EnLight256 are ready to redefine computation.
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Unmatched Speed
Calculations happen at the speed of light, with massive parallelism. This could reduce AI training times from weeks to hours.
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Radical Efficiency
With minimal heat, the energy costs of data centers could plummet, making AI more sustainable and accessible.
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Beyond Silicon's Limits
As Moore's Law for electronics slows, optical computing provides a new dimension for performance scaling.