Realization of All-Optical Circular Shift Register Using Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

Abstract

An all-optical circular shifting register based on the cross-gain modulation of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), a key component for future optical computers and signal processing, is experimentally demonstrated. The ideal schemes of left and right circular shifting registers are proposed. On the basis of the scheme, a left circular shifting register that can shift up to three times has been experimentally demonstrated using two SOAs and verified by VPI simulation. (C) 2011 The Japan Society of Applied Physics