Demonstration of optoelectronic logic operations with differential pairs of optical thyristors

Author

Kirk, A.G. ; Thienpont, H. ; Goulet, A. ; Heremans, P. ; Borghs, G. ; Vounckx, R. ; Kuijk, M. ; Veretennicoff, I.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Applied Phys., Vrije Univ., Brussels, Belgium

Volume

8

Issue

3

fYear

1996

fDate

3/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

467

Lastpage

469

Abstract

We show that differential pairs of pnpn optical thyristors can be used as optoelectronic logic elements. The logical operations AND, OR, NAND, and NOR are demonstrated and the functionality of the operation is reconfigured at the bit rate with the use of an additional optical bias bit. This opens the way to the development of fast and highly parallel optoelectronic information processing systems based on arrays of optical thyristors.

Keywords

electro-optical switches; optical logic; parallel architectures; photothyristors; AND; NAND; NOR; OR; additional optical bias bit; bit rate w; differential pairs; highly parallel optoelectronic information processing systems; optical thyristor arrays; optical thyristors; optoelectronic logic elements; optoelectronic logic operations; pnpn optical thyristors; Kirk field collapse effect; Logic arrays; Optical arrays; Optical bistability; Optical computing; Optical receivers; Optical sensors; Stimulated emission; Thyristors; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.481152

Filename

481152