Toward High‐Speed and Energy‐Efficient Computing: A WDM‐Based Scalable On‐Chip Silicon Integrated Optical Comparator

Abstract

Abstract Integrated photonics has shown extraordinary potential in optical computing. Various optical computing modules have been investigated, among which the digital comparator is a significant element for any arithmetic logic unit. In this study, an architecture of a wavelength‐division‐multiplexing‐based (WDM‐based) electronic–photonic digital comparator is proposed, which can perform high‐bit comparisons for fixed‐point or floating‐point binary inputs. A silicon photonics‐based 2‐bit comparator operating at 20 Gb s −1 at a 1.55 µm wavelength is experimentally demonstrated. A detailed performance analysis reveals that this architecture outperforms the current transistor‐based electronic comparators in terms of both computational speed and power efficiency.