When it comes to computing, one of the primary bottlenecks in increasing data transfer rates is the conversion time required from optics to electronics when the signal reaches a semiconductor microprocessor. One approach to addressing this problem would be converting systems to ones that are based on optics, with optical microprocessors in place of semiconductor microprocessors. Achieving this feat would lead to an era of all-optical information processing.

Optics, however, is not the sole technology eyed for the future of computing. Myriad technologies, known as quantum computing technologies, are also under consideration. Even though they lack some of the advantages of photonics, they have immense potential to overtake conventional systems.

Information processing in photonics is currently handled by artificial structures known as photonic crystals¹. These dielectric structures can be made from materials such as silicon, compound semiconductors or polymers. The functionality of these structures depends on the periodic variation in refractive index, which results in photonic band gap in the structure at a particular frequency range.