Optical logic gates based on the polarization properties of four-wave mixing
OwnerPer Olof Hedekvist, Ashish Bhardwaj +1inventors
InventorsPer Olof Hedekvist, Ashish Bhardwaj, Kerry J. Vahala
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Abstract
Logic operations are carried out among multiple optical signals based on their wavelength. The logic operations can be based on four wave mixing which produces an output based on polarizations of the inputs. The same circuit can be caused to carry out multiple truth tables. Applications are disclosed for adding, logical inversion, and error correction. The error correction can take the form of parity bit generation or correction of data bits.
Claims122
An optical gate, comprising:
- a logic combining element, receiving a plurality of optical signals having specified polarization properties, and combining said optical signals to produce a logic output that unambiguously corresponds to said plurality of optical signals, based on polarization properties of said optical signals.
A method, comprising:
- modulating a polarization of a plurality of optical signals to represent a logic state;
- and
- carrying out an operation among said plurality of optical signals which corresponds to a logic operation between said plurality of optical signals based on said polarization, and producing an output signal representing a result of said logic operation.
A method, comprising:
- encoding an input logic state as a polarization of an optical signal to form a polarization-encoded optical signal;
- using said polarization-encoded optical signal to carry out a logic operation;
- and
- detecting a polarization of said polarization-encoded signal, and inverting said polarization to a signal indicative of an output logic state.
An apparatus, comprising:
- an optical signal receiving element, receiving a plurality of polarization-encoded optical signals;
- an optical logic element, carrying out a four wave mixing process between said polarization encoded optical signals to produce an output having a polarization representing a logic operation between said plurality of polarization encoded optical signals.
An apparatus, comprising:
- an input, receiving optical signals which are optically encoded to represent a signal bit, and parity bits in an error correcting code;
- an optical circuit, including a first circuit part which detects whether values in said signal bit and parity bits include no error, and which passes said values when they indicate no error, and a second circuit part, separate from said first circuit part, which detects whether values in said signal bit include an error and correct said error when detected.
An optical gate, comprising:
- an input part, receiving three optical signals which are optically encoded to represent logic levels;
- an operation part, carrying out a logic operation between said three optical signals in a single level of gates, to produce an optical logic output indicative of said operation.
An optical logic gate, comprising:
- an optical element, receiving three optical inputs and producing an optical output which is a combination based on an error correction code represented by said three optical inputs.
A method, comprising:
- encoding each of a plurality of bits making up a multibit word, as different wavelengths in a multi wavelength signal;
- optically encoding information into said plurality of bits using polarization shift keying to encode said information;
- and
- carrying out a Boolean logic operation on said plurality of bits substantially simultaneously.
An apparatus, comprising:
- a modulator, which produces modulated light whose polarization relates to encoded data, as optical signals to be processed;
- at least two semiconductor optical amplifiers, respectively receiving said optical signal to be processed, and carrying out a Boolean operation among said optical signals based on the polarization of said optical signals.
An apparatus comprising:
- an optical gate, formed to receive polarization encoded signals into multiple four wave mixing elements, such that only one of said multiple four wave mixing element produces an output at any given time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.