On the computational power of a continuous-space optical model of computation

Abstract

We introduce a continuous-space model of computation. This original model is inspired by the theory of Fourier optics. We show a lower bound on the computational power of this model by Type-2 machine simulation. The limit on computational power of our model is nontrivial. We define a problem solvable with our model that is not Type-2 computable. The theory of optics does not preclude a physical implementation of our model.

Copyright 2001 Springer-Verlag.