An integrated optical parallel adder as a first step towards light speed data processing

Integrated optical circuits with nanophotonic devices have attracted significant attention due to its low power dissipation and light-speed operation. With light interference and resonance phenomena, the nanophotonic device works as a voltage-controlled optical pass-gate like a pass-transistor. This paper first introduces a concept of the optical pass-gate logic, and then proposes a parallel adder circuit based on the optical pass-gate logic. Experimental results obtained with an optoelectronic circuit simulator show advantages of our optical parallel adder circuit over a traditional CMOS-based parallel adder circuit.