Implementation Example of a 7‑Channel Parallel Multi‑Valued Optical CPU Architecture Using Optical Fibers and Membrane-Based Control

This study proposes an implementation example of a multi-valued optical CPU architecture that combines optical fibers with membrane-based control layers. Seven independent optical fibers are arranged in parallel, each functioning as an individual computation channel. Due to their inherent properties—no electromagnetic interference, minimal heat generation, and propagation at the speed of light—optical fibers can serve as independent computational units. In the proposed architecture, light enters from the left, the membrane control layer rapidly switches each channel between ON and OFF states, and the output is detected on the right using high-speed photodetectors operating at gigahertz frequencies. This enables seven-way parallel multi-valued computation based on optical physical characteristics, which is difficult to achieve with electronic circuits. Furthermore, the architecture can be extended through frame-based routing, three-dimensional fiber arrangements, and wavelength-division multiplexing. These results demonstrate the feasibility of a new computational paradigm that integrates optical fibers with membrane-based optical gating.