Proposal of All-Optical Active Microring Logic Gate for Microring Processor

We propose and analyze all-optical active microring logic gates for a microring processor that has various integrated all-optical signal processing functions. The active microring logic gate is composed of an InGaAsP/InP multiple quantum well and is operated on the basis of cross gain modulation (XGM) and cross phase modulation (XPM). The XGM and XPM are enhanced in the active microring resonator, leading to low-power consumption. We have analyzed and successfully demonstrated 10 Gbps wavelength conversion and NOT, NOR, OR and 5 Gbps AND gate operations by the transfer matrix method (TMM). The simulation results show that the proposed active microring can be operated with very low energy input signals as low as 1.0--20 fJ/pulse.