A method of developing frequency encoded multi-bit optical data comparator using semiconductor optical amplifier

Optical data comparator is the part and parcel of arithmetic and logical unit of any optical data processor and it is working as a building block in a larger optical circuit, as an optical switch in all optical header processing and optical packet switching based all optical telecommunications system. In this article the author proposes a method of developing an all optical single bit comparator unit and subsequently extending the proposal to develop a n-bit comparator exploiting the nonlinear rotation of the state of polarization of the probe beam in semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Here the dataset to be compared are taken in frequency encoded/decoded form throughout the communication. The major advantages of frequency encoding over all other conventional techniques are that as the frequency of any signal is fundamental one so it can preserve its identity throughout the communication of optical signal and minimizes the probability of bit error problem. For frequency routing purpose optical add/drop multiplexer (ADM) is used which not only route the pump beams properly but also to amplify the pump beams efficiently. Switching speed of ‘MZI-SOA switch’ as well as SOA based switches are very fast with good on–off contrast ratio and as a result it is possible to obtain very fast action of optical data comparator.