No one has come up with the basic science required to analyze the data being transmitted as a light signal without first converting that light signal to an electrical signal. Until that basic science is developed, there will not be any pure optical switch.
DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY !!
Now that you brought it up, you need to follow up on it. I am sure there are VC's in the Bay Area just dying to fund this project.
Historical note:
The original DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY was the solid state transistor. Invented by Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain, their goal was to develop a replacement for the vacuum tube for Bell Labs (AT&T). Why? Although it was smaller and more reliable than mechanical magnetic switches, the vacuum tube was still fairly unreliable and inefficient. It was the weak link in the solid-state copper phone network. They accomplished their job, and changed the world far more than they could have imagined.
people.whitman.edu
Now, some 50 years later, history is repeating itself. Networks have gone from copper to optical, however, the switches remain electrical, a 50 year-old technology. Will we see necessity bear the fruits of invention that will bring the next 50 years of technical revolution? It's already started... and once again by Bell Labs.
net.org
At its core, it's still semiconductor, but one day, it may be replaced...
Processors are not the 'killer app' for optical computing. They are too complex and have high barriers to entry. Routers, on the other hand... well, anyone make a call through a vacuum tube lately? Oh yeah, you have to go to the tech museum for that.
A pure optical (non-semiconductor) transistor is a very very compelling disruptive technology. That alone will drive men to break the laws of physics, just as the alchemists of old once devoted their lives to turning lead into gold. Ironically, it is possible to turn lead into gold, but not profitable. Silly men, if instead they learned to turn photons around a corner and on and off, they could simply buy all the gold in the world.
El Guapo |
