Free-Space Optical Crossover Interconnects for Parallel Computers

Optical digital computers offer the potential for massively parallel operation at high speed. Their performance depends strongly on efficient ways of transmitting data between different layers of logic devices. The optical crossover network is presented as an efficient data network for parallel computers. Using the crossover network it is possible to interconnect arrays with a size up to 128x128. A free-space optical implementation is proposed for the crossover interconnects. Experimental results are presented.