Relatively fundamental problems in physics hinder realization of large information-handling capability offered by optical switching. This paper examines the physics of optical switching in a way which exhibits those problems and which suggests strategies for their solution. The primary limits on optical switches arise from heat generated during the switching process. The principal barriers to easing those limits are the small value of interaction cross sections for atoms in solid-state materials and the lack of high-finesse microresonators for the optical field. The research most relevant to the solution of these problems appears to be that dealing with enhanced atom—optical-field interactions in solid-state microstructures. Short-optical-pulse generation and the short-time dynamics of solid-state microstructures are also highly relevant.

• Received 17 November 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.26.2049