OPTICAL DEVICE AND CIRCUIT USING PHASE MODULATION AND RELATED METHODS

摘要

A disclosed apparatus (10) is characterized by a guiding element (12) and a nonlinear element (30). The guiding element (12) guides optical input signals, at least one of which is phase-modulated, to an interference area (26) where such signals meet and interfere. The resulting interference signal is nonlinearly discriminated by the nonlinear element (30) to produce an optical output signal that can be amplitude or phase-modulated according to the phase modulation of the input signals. The invention also includes related methods and photonic logic gates (100, 200).