Spatial soliton angular deflection logic gates

A generalized interaction geometry between orthogonally polarized optical spatial solitons is presented in which a weak signal soliton induces a small angular deflection of a stronger power supply, or pump, soliton, resulting in a spatially resolved shift of the pump at the gate output. This geometry allows for the all-optical realization of true three-terminal, inverting and restoring logic devices with gain, which can serve as building blocks for more complex logic operations. In addition, the effects of linear and nonlinear material absorption, which degrades the performance of the angular deflection gates, are considered. Even in the presence of realistic absorption, the angular deflection logic gates can still produce large-signal gain (>2) sufficient for general logic. Finally, by use of a modified gate transfer function approach, these optical logic gates are shown to possess large noise margins for robust operation. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 200.4660, 190.5530.