10 Gb/s Reconfigurable Optical Logic Gate Using a Single Hybrid-Integrated SOA-MZI

Abstract

A novel reconfigurable Boolean device based on a single Mach-Zehnder interferometer with semiconductor optical amplifiers is demonstrated at 10 Gb/s using intensity return-to-zero modulated signals. The experimental results show that the device can be dynamically reconfigured to operate as a logic XOR, AND, OR, and NOT gate using optical switches. By properly adjusting the input powers, an extinction ratio higher than 10 dB may be obtained. The potential of integration of this architecture makes it an interesting approach in photonic computing and optical signal processing.