OPTICAL CLOCK DIVISION

摘要

A clock signal at a divided clock rate is obtained from an optical signal stream at a higher clock rate. The optical signal stream at the higher clock rate is applied to an all-optical non-linear gate. There is feedback from a first output of the gate to its control input. The optical signal at a divided clock rate is present at a second output of the gate. The gate may comprise a non-linear loop mirror. A number of such gates may be cascaded in series to provide an output at a clock rate divided by 2n, where n is an integer.