Performance evaluation of optical systems for multistage interconnection networks

Some guidelines of the performance evaluation of an all-optical architecture are presented. This basic architecture supports bursty traffic. It can be used as the switching building block far a number of interconnection networks. The power analysis of an all optical buffering architecture that can be interfaced with such an element is discussed. The performance evaluation is given in terms of the switch model, the multistage model and the power performance of the optical buffer. The architecture uses bistable optical devices such as Fabry-Perot etalons, SEED and S-SEED. A number of important issues remain to be addressed, such as the use of different nonlinear optical devices, synchronization, and modeling requirements