All-optical method for the addition of binary data by nonlinear materials

An all-optical system for the addition of binary numbers is proposed in which input binary digits are encoded by appropriate cells in two different planes and output binary digits are expressed as the presence ( = 1) or the absence ( = 0) of a light signal. The intensity-based optical XOR and AND logic operations are used here as basic building blocks. Nonlinear materials, appropriate cells (pixels), and other conventional optics are utilized in this system. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.