Toward multiwave optoelectronics for 3D parallel computing

Proposes a concept of multiwave optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs) to attack the interconnection problem in highly-parallel computing architectures. The authors present a schematic overview of the VLSI implementation and multiwave OEIC implementation where r wavelength components lambda /sub 0/, lambda /sub 1/,. . ., lambda /sub r-1/ are information carriers and multiplexed in an optical waveguide. The multiwave OEIC provides wavelength as an extra dimension of freedom for parallel computing, and hence three-dimensional space, making it possible to reduce both the number of interconnections (waveguides) on the chip and the complexity. To confirm the principle of 3D parallel computing based on optical wavelength multiplexing, an optical half-adder has been implemented utilizing four wavelength components.<>