Future high performance computers may need to rely on optical interconnects. Several NASA applications require high performance Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSEL), THz modulators etc. Computational optoelectronics is playing a major role in understanding the performace of these devices and serves as an effective design tool. Simulations which self-consistently include electronic transport, optics and thermal effects are needed to study and design future optoelectronics devices.

The devices mentioned here are characterized by sub-100 nm gate dimensions or sub-10 nm quantum wells (in lasers) and hence, arguably should be classified under nanotechnology. However, since these devices continue to be made by the conventional 'top-down' miniaturization, we have classified the computational effort as Computational Electronics/Optoelectronics - a special category of Computational Nanotechnology.