Abstract

Using computer simulations, we design a new all-optical logic gate that is a hybrid between soliton dragging logic gates (SDLG) and nonlinear optical loop mirrors (NOLM). We find that the advantages of blending SDLG’s and NOLM's are lower switching energy (as low as 5.3 pj) and a timing window whose width is the sum from the two mechanisms (3.3 pulse width wide). The novel element of our design is a polarization maintaining (PM), low-birefringent (low-bi) fiber that is made by carefully wrapping a low-bi fiber on a cylindrical mandrel. The use of low-bi fibers increases the interaction length between the input pulses by two orders of magnitude compared to the case of standard PM fibers.

© 1995 Optical Society of America