Nonlinear waveguides for optical logic and computation

Optical logic gates for OR-AND-NOT, NOR and exclusive-XNOR operations in waveguides consisting of nonlinear material are numerically investigated by means of FD-BPM (Finite Difference Beam Propagation Method). The proposed devices are designed utilizing the self-routing characteristics of nonlinear X-crossing and Y-branching structures when they are operated with one input beam or two. The numerical simulations show that the proposed structures can favorably be applied to optical data processing and computing as fundamental logic gates.