Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for all optical distributed arbitration for computer system components (1801-1804) communicatively coupled via a photonic interconnect in a computer system device. The embodiments of the optical arbitration in the computer system provides arbitration schemes with fixed priority (2000) and non-fixed priority (1830, 2200). The non-fixed priority scheme embodiments can provide fairness in arbitration. In some embodiments, delivery of light power and arbitration are combined (1830, 2001).