Optical threshold logic elements for digital computation

A hybrid integrated optical threshold logic element is proposed for fast digital computation on a chip level. Each input and output optical beam occupies a separate channel and is coupled directly to the source. This suggests the possibility of achieving reliable optical digital operation in a complex network. Such a network is expected to be particularly compact because one or several threshold logic elements may replace many simple optical logic elements. The devices are also capable of high-speed programmability, so the same set of elements can serve different functions. Applications to conventional arithmetic computation and to high-speed residue arithmetic computation are presented.