Cascadable spatial-soliton logic gates

The three-terminal spatial-soliton angular-deflection geometry provides the characteristics of an inverting logic gate with gain, and phase-insensitiv e implementations can be realized by a number of specific nonlinear interac tions between orthogonally polarized waves. In particular, numerical simula tions of spatial-soliton dragging and collision are used to calculate the t ransfer functions of inverter and multiple configurations of two-input NOR gates and to address their cascadability. These transfer functions converge in cascaded operation and suggest that fan-out greater than 2 with a large noise margin is attainable in a system with standardized signal levels. Th ese results are obtained with the material properties of fused silica and a re representative of low-loss Kerr media. (C) 2000 Optical Society of Ameri ca OCIS codes: 200.4660,190.5530.