Abstract

The implementation of polarization-based optical logic using low-cost, low-power, and high-speed ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) has been previously described.¹ In particular, the XOR and XNOR Boolean functions are easily built by cascading in series two electrically addressed FLO devices.^1,2 The AND and OR operations, however, require parallel combinations of liquid crystals, polarizers, analyzers, mirrors, and in some cases photodetectors.^2,3 These schemes are cumbersome because they require twice the optical components and space to build compared to cascadable logic gates. We present a new optical logic gate which consists of FLC material placed between layers of hydrogenated amorphous silicon. By appropriately doping the amorphous silicon photosensors, this device can be used as an alloptical cascadable AND or OR gate.

© 1987 Optical Society of America