OPTICAL SYSTEMS FOR A DIGITAL OPTICAL COMPUTER

A design technique for implementing a digital optical computer has been proposed[1]. The design consists of arrays of optical logic gates connected using a simple split and shift interconnect with some of the connections blocked off. In order for such a design to be realised several physical problems must be solved. The first problem is that large arrays of optical logic gates operating with low switching energies and at high speeds (~1ns) have to be fabricated. Progress is being made in this direction [2,3,4]. Because of the above constraints the devices will be small (~microns). They may also work in reflection (that is the output is the reflected power supply) since this will make fabrication and heatsinking easier. The second problem is designing optical systems around such arrays, allowing both the devices to operate as logic gates and performing the interconnects between devices. By showing some experimental results using both existing and dummy devices we will show how such systems can be designed.