Fast optical flip‐flop by use of Mach–Zehnder interferometers

Abstract

Abstract Optical flip‐flops formed from two coupled Mach–Zehnder interferometers are presented. The interferometers employ semiconductor optical amplifiers in their arms. The flip‐flops are demonstrated via simulations and experiments. Low switching energy and very high speed are possible in spite of the relatively slow semiconductor optical amplifier carrier recovery time. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 31: 411–415, 2001.