Abstract

The ability to connect efficiently many high-speed ports is of critical importance for large-capacity data processing. By taking advantage of the parallel nature of light, two-dimensional (2-D) optical planes can be employed to avoid the eventual electronic bottlenecks of reduced speed and increased power consumption.[1-3] However, a basic problem arises in the optical-plane solution when one plane wishes to communicate simultaneously or reconfigurably with many subsequent planes. Traditional optical systems solve this problem in two ways as shown in Fig. 1. The first method is for each plane to detect a data packet and then, if it was not intended for that plane, retransmit it to the next plane. The disadvantages include the possibility of an electronic high-speed bottleneck as well as the wasting of capacity, real estate, and optical hardware. The second method involves etching large via-holes in each plane's substrate as a window such that an unobstructed and permanent optical path is created between a transmitting pixel on plane i and a detecting pixel on plane j.[4] This second approach solves the electronic bottleneck but wastes real estate and allows only a given static configuration between any two planes.

© 1993 Optical Society of America