Applied Optics

Optical bistability, photonic logic, and optical computation

Stuart D. Smith

Published May 15, 1986• 126 citations

Abstract

This paper presents new results and reviews the latest state of research in all-optical nonlinear logic switches, amplifiers, and memories. Optical circuit elements that perform the logic functions of the electronic computer are described. Switching speed on a picosecond time scale, the availability of fast high bandwidth consistent communication, and the application of optical parallelism in free space optical wiring are some advantages of the optical computing elements.

DOI: 10.1364/ao.25.001550

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