Abstract
Fast digital processing is necessary to control the traffic of packets in optical networks, for instance for the operations of address recognition, routing, packet collision treatment, and demultiplexing1,2,3. So far, this treatment is achieved by an electronic layer which operates at ~1 GHz, but operations at several tens or even several hundreds of GHz will be needed in the near future. A typical example concerns demultiplexing in time division multiplexed busses for multiprocessor systems4 when the top bus throughput attains several hundreds of Gbit/s. Obviously, electronic circuits no longer work at this frequency so that the development of ultrafast optical gates has attracted a great deal of attention. However, the traffic control is so complicated and the processing capabilities of optical gates so limited that it seems unrealistic to consider replacing the electronic layer by an all-optical solution. A possible compromise might be to connect the electronic layer to the optical communication channels via a simple but ultrafast photonic interface that could be integrated in monolithic optical circuits.
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