Optical Holographic Interconnection Networks for Parallel and Distributed Processing

Abstract

With the rapid advances in technology, it is now feasible to build a system consisting of hundreds or thousands of processors [1-3]. Processors in such a parallel/distributed system may spend a considerable amount of time just communicating among themselves unless an efficient and fast interconnection network connects them. The first method for realizing optical interconnections that comes to mind is by means of optical fibers. However, optical fibers are not necessarily the ideal solution for large-scale multicomputer systems, since it requires a physical path for the interconnection between every two processors, and rather inflexible path at that.