We report on the successful operation of an analogue computer designed to factor numbers. Our device relies solely on the interference of classical light and brings together the field of ultrashort laser pulses with number theory. Indeed, the frequency component of the electric field corresponding to a sequence of appropriately shaped femtosecond pulses is determined by a Gauss sum which allows us to find the factors of a number.
doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.030202
View online : Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 030202 (2008)