Polarization-encoded optical shadow-casting logic units: design

Abstract

A general design algorithm is presented for the multioutput polarization-encoded optical shadow-casting scheme. A set of POSC equations is obtained from the truth table of the desired logic unit and is solved in terms of four possible pixel characteristics (transparent, opaque, vertically polarized, and horizontally polarized) and four possible source characteristics (off, unpolarized, vertically polarized, and horizontally polarized). To demonstrate its feasibility, the algorithm is used to determine the input pixel characteristics of a full adder and a full subtracter.