Apparatus and methods are provided for photonic contention resolution in a switch including a plurality of input modules and a plurality of output modules, wherein at least two of the plurality of input modules have cells to be transmitted to a destination output module. The photonic contention resolution device includes a plurality of coherent light sources for emitting a beam of coherent light and a plurality of tunable receivers. Each of the coherent light sources and tunable receivers are tunable by an associated input module to a plurality of distinct wavelengths. Each tunable laser preferably illuminates at least one of the plurality of tunable receivers at the particular wavelength associated with the destination output module such that one of the at least two input modules transmits its cell to the destination output module if none of the plurality of coherent light sources is illuminating its associated tunable receiver at the particular wavelength.