Comment Re: optical processing (Score 1) 114
This has already been done. Canarie, a Canadian group, is building a disk drive out of a 5k mile DWDM ring.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/161735.html
Over time, a combination of high index materials, integrated photonic circuits (waveguides, detectors, and lasers on single chips) will make this more feasible.