Computations with near-field coupled plasmon particles interacting with phase-change materials

The computing functionality emerging from spatial correlations due to near-field interactions between local processing and memory elements is discussed. In particular, we investigate the possibility of solving a problem analogous to the spin-glass problem by using a coupled dipole system, in which the individual coupling strengths can be modified to optimize the system so that the exact solution can be easily reached. For this algorithm, we propose an implementation based on a coupled plasmonparticle system interacting with a phase-change material; this system exhibits threshold behavior and plasticity to provide processing and memory functions, respectively.