“How might optical computers beat electronic computers? …….. There are three main metrics of computing performance for which we might aim to achieve an advantage: latency, throughput and energy efficiency…”
A very readable review by Peter MacMahon of Cornell.
In the immediate future, designing energy-efficient computational platforms will be a necessity. Electronic transport is noisy and dissipative. Optical alternatives can be important, but challenges remain…
Given that the speed of light is the upper limit of information transport and processing, optics will be a vital ingredient in computation. In hindsight, it has already been. But there is more to it than just the speed, as the review article explains elaborately..
Interesting times ahead…
VISMAYA - History & Philosophy of Science 