Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to photonic- interconnection-based compute clusters (1200) that provide high-speed, high-bandwidth interconnections between compute cluster nodes (1401-1404). In one embodiment of the present invention, the compute cluster (1200) includes a photonic interconnection having one or more optical transmission paths (1210,1212,1216-1219) for- transmitting independent frequency channels within an optical signal to each node in a set of nodes (1401-1404). The compute cluster (1200) includes one or more . photonic- interconnection-based writers (1500), each writer associated with a particular node, and each writer encoding information generated by the node into one of the independent frequency channels. ' A switch fabric directs the information encoded in the independent frequency channels to one or more nodes in the compute cluster. The compute cluster also includes one or more photonic-interconnection-based readers (1550), each reader associated with a particular node, and each reader extracting the information, encoded in the independent frequency channels directed to the node for processing.