Date of Award

3-21-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Michael C. Pochet, PhD.

Abstract

This work investigates the implementation of all-optical wavelength conversion and logic gates based on optical injection locking (OIL). All-optical inverting, NOR, and NAND gates are experimentally demonstrated using two distributed feedback (DFB) lasers, a multi-mode Fabry-Perot laser diode (MMFP-LD), and a optical band-pass filter (BPF). The DFB lasers are externally modulated to represent logic inputs into the cavity of the MMFP-LD slave laser. The master lasers' wavelengths are aligned with the longitudinal modes of the MMFP-LD slave laser and their optical power is used to modulate the injection conditions in the slave laser. The optical BPF is used to select the longitudinal mode that is suppressed or transmitted given the logic state of the injecting master laser signals. When the input signal(s) is (are) in the on state, injection locking, and thus the suppression of the non-injected Fabry-Perot modes, is induced, yielding a dynamic system that can be used to implement photonic logic functions. Additionally, all-optical photonic processing is achieved using the cavity mode shift produced in the injected slave laser under external optical injection. The inverting logic case can also be used as a wavelength converter -- a key component in advanced wavelength-division multiplexing networks. The result of this experimental investigation is a more comprehensive understanding of the locking parameters concerning the injection of multiple lasers into a multi-mode cavity. Attention is placed on the turn-on/turn-off transition dynamics, along with the maximum achievable bit rates. The performance of optical logic computations and wavelength conversion has the potential for ultrafast operation, limited primarily by the photon decay rate in the slave laser.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-ENG-13-M-23

DTIC Accession Number

ADA575356

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