Abstract

The all-optical processor has been a dream for over two decades now, with the effective and practical implementation of such proving elusive. This dream appears to have fallen by the wayside with the blindingly impressive progress of late in silicon-based computing, but almost ironically it is this very advancement that is bringing forward a new application for all-optical logic: information routing. Optical (fiber optic) communication is very successfully solving the world’s need for information transfer, but even still the information must be constantly received electronically and resent in order to steer it to its destination. This process is slow in comparison to the basic information propagation speed in optical fibers, and is quickly becoming the weak point in the global information network. Its most obvious replacement is all-optical logic switching.

© 2000 Optical Society of America