OPTICAL COMPUTING AND OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY

RECENT ADVANCES IN OPTOELECTRONIC MODULATORS DESIGN AND RELATED SUPERLATTICE AND MULTIPLE-QUANTUM-WELL MATERIALS MAY ENABLE THE CREATION OF A NEW CLASS OF OPTOELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR APPLICATIONS IN OPTICAL INTERCONNECTION, OPTIAL LOGIC GATES, SPATIAL-LIGHTMODULATORS AND NEW BISTABLE CONFIGURATIONS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK IS TO EXPLORE THE USE OF NEW LOW-DRIVE-VOLTAGE FABRY-PEROT MODULATORS, RECENTLY CONCEIVED AT UC-SANTA BARBARA, IN THESE APPLICATIONS, AND IN LATER PHASES, TO DEVELOP HYBRID AND MONOLITHIC OPTOELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR COMMERCIAL AND MILITARY OPTICAL INTERCONNECTION AND LOGIC APPLICATIONS. BECAUSE OF THE LOW CAPACITANCE AND LOW VOLTAGE REQUIREMENTS OF THE MODULATORS, SUCH CIRCUITS SHOULD OPERATE AT HIGHER SPEEDS AND WITH LOWER POWERS THAN PRESENTLY POSSIBLE. COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDE OPTICAL TRANSMITTERS AND RECEIVERS, INTRAAND INTER-COMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS, RECONFIGURABLE INTERCONNECTS (PHOTONIC SWITCHING) AND OPTOELECTRONIC COMPUTING.