Optics and supercomputing

Storage, interconnection, and processing are discussed. Various types of optical disks and page-oriented holographic memories are considered. It is shown that optical storage is advancing rapidly and holds the potential of hundreds of megabytes per second data rates from a single storage unit, which can provide many new opportunities for supercomputing. Module-to-module, board-to-board, and chip-to-chip interconnection and gate-to-gate communication are discussed. It is concluded that optical interconnection is, in many cases, superior to electronic interconnection and holds the key to the development of future electrooptic systems. Optical computing devices are discussed and various application areas where optical processing as well as storage and interconnection are expected to play a role in the future are considered. The authors believe that optical processing, while holding considerable promise, lags behind its electronic counterpart primarily due to the fact that digital optical device development is in its infancy. They predict near-term systems will be electrooptic, with each technology providing its strength to the problem at hand