Ultrafast all-optical gate
A new ultrafast optical waveguide gate based on a nonlinear optical interaction in a waveguide interferometer is presented. A train of signal pulses is gated by control pulses which change the refractive index in only one arm of the interferometer. The principle of operation is demonstrated using a modified Mach-Zehnder interferometer, 2 cm long, fabricated in a LiNbO3 substrate. The experiments were performed with a near-infrared dye laser which produced 5 ps pulses at 840 nm. A maximum modulation on the order of 0.001 was obtained for a peak control power of 2 W. Experimentally, the appropriate nonlinear coefficient of LiNbO3 is determined to be n2 3 x 10 to the -9th/(MW/sq cm). As possible applications of the structure, an all-optical inverter, an XOR gate, and an AND gate are described. A brief description of a random number generator encoder and decoder based on a few all-optical logic gates is also presented.
- Research Organization:
- MIT, Lexington, MA
- OSTI ID:
- 6632823
- Journal Information:
- IEEE J. Quant. Electron.; (United States), Journal Name: IEEE J. Quant. Electron.; (United States) Vol. QE-19; ISSN IEJQA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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