title: All-optical binary counter based on semiconductor optical amplifiers.
abstract: A cascadable all-optical binary counter is demonstrated by using optical flip flops and logic gates based on semiconductor optical amplifiers. Two-bit counting operation as well as optical-frequency division at two different frequencies is presented. The proposed scheme is tunable in the entire C-band and can work at different counting rates without any reconfiguration. Performance evaluations in terms of Q factor confirm the effectiveness of the scheme in cascadable configurations. Counting-speed limitation is investigated, and photonic integration is identified as a feasible solution to increase the functioning rate beyond gigahertz.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. jwang1983@gmail.com
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meloni
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berrettini
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Potì
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bogoni