Abstract

The development of an optical computer was first looked at seriously with a great deal of effort in the 1960s. The recent resurgence has seen many fundamentally new concepts and material effects. Yet the current devices are not ready for system integration. The reasons include a broad range from temperature intolerance to good logic function to excessive costs in laser power requirements. Each of these problems has several solutions which are discussed. Future efforts to bring optical logic out of the laboratory and develop it into a working machine with much less backtrack and wastage of effort will be greatly accelerated by giving much greater attention to the system considerations at the material and gate levels. Examples are given as how the above tools and understanding can be used to build an optical logic gate capable of good system performance.

© 1986 Optical Society of America