Physical and systems motivations for smart pixels

Smart pixels offer a qualitatively new opportunity for interconnection technology; they allow very large numbers of optical inputs and outputs (I/O) directly from chips. Current experimental chips have more than 2000 optical I/O channels. This opportunity allows us to take advantage of yet further physical features of optics, all without sacrificing any of the benefits of digital electronic logic. As a result, smart pixels may allow new classes of systems, classes that do not suit the physics and technology of electrical interconnections.