Optical interconnection networks for switching

An ever-increasing bandwidth demand in computer communication and switching necessitates an efficient interconnection technology. Some of the advanced electronic parallel computer communication architectures may not even be sufficient to meet the ultra-high speed switching requirements of today's applications. The optical signal whether communicated through waveguides or free-space can propagate at the speed of light in the medium and, hence, is independent of the number of components that receive those signals. Optical interconnections are inherently fast, secure, and parallel in nature, which in turn, facilitate high bandwidth computer communication and switching. An attractive means for exploiting optical beam noninteraction property is to use free-space propagation but with focused, i.e., photorefractive volume holographic interconnection technique. In this talk we review a number of different optical interconnection network architectures with an emphasis on photorefractive volume holograms and their possibilities and problems as applied to computer communication switching.