Fundamental Issues in Optical Interconnections

Abstract

We review some of the relatively fundamental work in the area of optically interconnected digital computing systems. We cover comparisons of optical interconnections with other interconnection media in terms of energy and interconnection density, studies determining the optimal combination of optical and electrical interconnections that should be used, work on free-space optical interconnection architectures, complexity studies, and work on physical and logical system architectures and algorithms. We exclude work on devices, components, materials, and manufacturing.