All-optical programmable Boolean logic unit using semiconductor optical amplifiers on the Mach–Zehnder interferometer arms switch

All-optical logic device is a vital element in ultra high speed all-optical networks. If the element is programmable then the device become more sophisticated and user friendly. In this study, a compact all-optical programmable Boolean logic unit (PBLU) is proposed using two cascaded semiconductor optical amplifiers on the Mach-Zehnder interferometer arms-based switches. PBLU can perform any of the 16-Boolean all-optical logical operations (False, AB, AB̅, A, A̅B, B, A ⊕ B, A+B, A̅B̅, A ⊙ B, B̅, A+B̅, A̅, A̅+B, A̅+B̅, True) according to the programming input. The performance of the circuit is evaluated through numerical simulation,which confirms its feasibility in terms of the choice of the critical parameters, which confirms its feasibility in terms of the choice of the critical parameters.