Abstract

We propose, for the first time to our knowledge, an all-optical exclusive or gate by use of an integrated semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer sped up by an assistant light. Through numerical simulations it is shown that, by use of a continuous-wave (cw) assistant light at the SOA transparency wavelength to increase the gain recovery rate of the SOA, the operating speed limit of the xor gate can be increased. The SOA parameters and the assistant light energy are discussed and designed to optimize the performance of the xor gate.

© 2005 Optical Society of America

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