TY - JOUR
T1 - A programmable chemical computer with memory and pattern recognition
AU - Parrilla-Gutierrez, Juan Manuel
AU - Sharma, Abhishek
AU - Tsuda, Soichiro
AU - Cooper, Geoffrey J. T.
AU - Aragon-Camarasa, Gerardo
AU - Donkers, Kevin
AU - Cronin, Leroy
PY - 2020/3/18
Y1 - 2020/3/18
N2 - Current computers are limited by the von Neumann bottleneck, which constrains the throughput between the processing unit and the memory. Chemical processes have the potential to scale beyond current computing architectures as the processing unit and memory reside in the same space, performing computations through chemical reactions, yet their lack of programmability limits them. Herein, we present a programmable chemical processor comprising of a 5 by 5 array of cells filled with a switchable oscillating chemical (Belousov–Zhabotinsky) reaction. Each cell can be individually addressed in the ‘on’ or ‘off’ state, yielding more than 2.9 × 1017 chemical states which arise from the ability to detect distinct amplitudes of oscillations via image processing. By programming the array of interconnected BZ reactions we demonstrate chemically encoded and addressable memory, and we create a chemical Autoencoder for pattern recognition able to perform the equivalent of one million operations per second.
AB - Current computers are limited by the von Neumann bottleneck, which constrains the throughput between the processing unit and the memory. Chemical processes have the potential to scale beyond current computing architectures as the processing unit and memory reside in the same space, performing computations through chemical reactions, yet their lack of programmability limits them. Herein, we present a programmable chemical processor comprising of a 5 by 5 array of cells filled with a switchable oscillating chemical (Belousov–Zhabotinsky) reaction. Each cell can be individually addressed in the ‘on’ or ‘off’ state, yielding more than 2.9 × 1017 chemical states which arise from the ability to detect distinct amplitudes of oscillations via image processing. By programming the array of interconnected BZ reactions we demonstrate chemically encoded and addressable memory, and we create a chemical Autoencoder for pattern recognition able to perform the equivalent of one million operations per second.
KW - computers
KW - chemical processes
KW - computer architecture
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-020-15190-3
DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-15190-3
M3 - Article
VL - 11
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
M1 - 1442
ER -