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All-optical logic gates are essential elements for the optical processing of information, since they overcome the fundamental difficulties of their electronic counterparts, in particular the limited data transfer speed and bandwidth.
Recently, silicon has been used as a basic element in making passive and active photonic devices due to its high thermal and mechanical properties, stability, high quality, low loss, and large bandwidth extending from 1.55 μm to nearly 7 μm.
In a new study, Amer Kotb and Li Wei at Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Kyriakos Zoiros at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece have designed seven basic logic operations—NOT, XOR, AND, OR, NOR, NAND and XNOR—using silicon-on-silica waveguides operated at 1.55 μm.
These logic operations are realized based on the constructive and destructive interferences between the input beams. The operations’ performance is evaluated against the contrast ratio (CR).
With the convolutional perfectly matched layer as an absorbing boundary condition, a Lumerical finite-difference-time-domain is run to simulate and demonstrate the operation of the proposed logic operations.
The simulation results published in Physica Scripta suggest that a compact waveguide can be used to realize all-optical logic gates with higher CRs and a speed as high as 120 Gb/s compared with previous designs.
2023-02-13 11:34:45
Link from phys.org
Researchers have recently made a breakthrough in technology that could revolutionize how computers process information. In a fascinating discovery, they have managed to construct a full set of logic gates using the novel application of silicon-on-silica waveguides at a wavelength of 1.55 μm.
Logic gates are components of a digital circuit that perform a logical function, such as performing calculations and comparing data. They are essential for controlling the flow of current and are the key element of how digital devices, such as computers and smartphones, work. This is why they are so important to current technological communication.
Silicon-on-silica waveguides, which are micrometer-scale integrated electrical and optical channels, are used in this new technology in place of traditional electronic wires. Light is harnessed and manipulated on a chip for signal processing at the extremely small wavelength of 1.55μm. This wavelength is the smallest though which light can travel at speed, making it perfect for logic gate applications.
The team of researchers was able to successfully create both a NAND and NOR logic gate using the silicon-on-silica waveguides, as well as basic binary operations such as AND, OR, NOT and XOR gates. This is the first time researchers have been able to achieve all four types of logic gates on a single device.
This innovative technology is vast improvement over current methods, as the light-manipulated logic gates are much faster and more efficient. They almost two-hundred times smaller then conventional logic gates, allowing them to be used in smaller and more compact devices. Additionally, they also require significantly less power, meaning they could be used to construct devices which are more energy-efficient.
The researchers believe there is plenty of potential in their new technology and are looking to further develop it to improve its potential across the board. They are optimistic that this breakthrough could spark a significant transformation in the field of communications and computing, and better equip us for the rapidly developing technology of the future.