Workshop: "The Future Revolution in Optical Communications and Networking" to be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington, VA on December 4-5, 2000.

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

0101837 Willner The proposed NSF Workshop, scheduled forDec. 4-5, 2000, will examine critical and enabling optical technologies that will be required to meet the needs of the coming bandwidth revolution. The location for the workshop will be the Marriott Key Bridge in Rosslyn, VA. This proposal contains the fruits of a planning meeting by the Steering Committee held on August 8" at the NSF. Specifically, this proposal addresses: (i) a description and rationale for the workshop, (ii) a list of topics and potential speakers to be considered, (iii) an agenda, and (iv) a budget. The NSF Workshop will explore research opportunities in critical enabling technologies, with the goal of assuring continued bandwidth and capacity growth in optical communications and networking systems throughout the next decade. The workshop will address forward-looking, high-impact research, including technologies for all-optical packet switched networking, novel technologies for increasing the optical fiber communications bandwidth beyond 50 THz, and microwave photonics for LANs and very high frequency wireless systems. Potential bottlenecks will be identified and means of overcoming them will be explored with a view towards achieving 50-100 Tb/s networks. Moreover, the workshop will also explore how the NSF can play a strategic role in alleviating the critical shortage of trained optical engineers for the workforce. The workshop will bring together experts from academia, industry, and government to discuss these areas and identify critical issues in materials, device, systems, and networking research. The final report prepared by the workshop participants will detail important challenges, both fundamental and technological, that are likely to be at the forefront of this field for many years to come. The workshop is being organized by several NSF directorates, including: ENG, MPS/DNM, and CISE/ANIR. ***