Abstract
Today's communications environment places increasing pressure on the electronics used for signal processing and control. Enhanced services, such as interactive video, high-definition television and high-data-rate transmission, all demand larger capacity and higher speeds. Moreover, in modern networks most information is transported as pulses of light on high-bandwidth optical fibres. Hence the use of electronic switching requires cumbersome conversions, from photons to electrons before signal processing, and from electrons back to photons for retransmission. Recognition of the ultimate limitations on the size and speed of electronic switches has simulated research on switches that can handle optical signals directly without optoelectronic conversion and, in some cases, without any switching, although almost 20 years old, is just now emerging from the research laboratory to find application in real systems, and still comprises an extremely diverse array of approaches in terms of possible materials, devices, and architectures.
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