Terabit/sec Photonic Computer Network Using MultiWavelength Vertical-Cavity Su

THE GOAL OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP A TERABIT/SEC PHOTONIC INTERCONNECT NETWORK BASED ON MULTI-WAVELENGTH VERTICAL-CAVITY SURFACE-EMITTING LASER ARRAYS. WE WILL DEVELOP THE ARCHITECTURES, DESIGNS AND COMPONENTS FOR SUCH A SYSTEM. THIS SYSTEM WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LIMITED BANDWIDTH OF ELECTRONIC-BASED COMPUTER INTERCONNECTS IN LARGE-SCALE, WIDE-AREA MULTIPROCESSOR COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS. FOR EXAMPLE, PRESSING DEMANDS ARE BEING MADE BY STRATEGIC DEFENSE SYSTEMS FOR SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED DATA FLOW AND CAPACITY OVER THE INTERCONNECTION NETWORK. THE SYSTEM PROPOSED HERE WOULD CONNECT HUNDREDS OF USERS/NODES IN A PHOTONIC INTERCONNECT NETWORK WITH INDIVIDUAL USER/NODE ACCESS OF 64 GIGABITS/SEC AND A NETWORK THROUGHPUT OF 4 TERABITS/SEC. THE SYSTEM WILL BE ROBUST, COMPACT AND FAULT-TOLERANT. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT RESULT OF PHASE I WILL BE A THROUGHLY DESIGNED HIGH-SPEED, HIGH-CAPACITY TERABIT/SEC PHOTONIC INTERCONNECT NETWORK SUPPORTED BY FEASIBILITY STUDIES OF THE MAJOR COMPONENTS. BASED ON THE RESULTS OF PHASE I, WE INTEND IN PHASE II TO CONSTRUCT AND DEMONTRATE THE SYSTEM. INTERCONNECTS ARE DEMANDING AN EVER INCREASING PORTION OF THE RESOURCES OF ADVANCED COMPUTERS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAM GOALS WILL HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON THE COMPETITIVENESS OF FUTURE COMPUTER SYSTEMS. THIS PROGRAM WILL ALSO FURTHER THE EMERGING VERTICAL-CAVITY SURFACE-EMITTING LASER TECHNOLOGY, WHICH PROMISES TO IMPACT NUMEROUS COMMERCIAL MARKETS.