Optical programmable Boolean logic unit

Abstract

Logic units are the building blocks of many important computational operations likes arithmetic, multiplexer-demultiplexer, radix conversion, parity checker cum generator, etc. Multifunctional logic operation is very much essential in this respect. Here a programmable Boolean logic unit is proposed that can perform 16 Boolean logical operations from a single optical input according to the programming input without changing the circuit design. This circuit has two outputs. One output is complementary to the other. Hence no loss of data can occur. The circuit is basically designed by a $2\times 2$ polarization independent optical cross bar switch. Performance of the proposed circuit has been achieved by doing numerical simulations. The binary logical states $(0,1)$ are represented by the absence of light (null) and presence of light, respectively.