System and method for improving the efficiency of routers on the internet and/or cellular networks and/or other networks and alleviating bottlenecks and overloads on the network

This invention describes a system to speed up internet routers by avoiding the slow process of converting entire data packets from light to electricity and back. It works by using special optical marks to quickly find the start and destination address of a data packet while it's still in optical form. Only a tiny part of the packet, specifically the address information, is briefly converted to electronics for the router to make a switching decision, while the rest of the packet is held in an optical delay line.