Abstract

The use of light beams to communicate information within a computer would alleviate the bandwidth and density limitations of electrical interconnects. Various information processing systems are under development which utilize multiple quantum well (MQW) p-i(MQW)-n modulators as their primary component. In these systems information is transmitted off an integrated circuit chip by imprinting it upon the beam reflected off the modulator. This capability should radically increase the aggregate information flow, especially if surface-normal modulators are used (i.e. the light beams are normal to the chip surface), since then twodimensional arrays with thousands of elements may be formed.

© 1994 Optical Society of America