TY - JOUR
T1 - WDM-Enabled Optical RAM at 5 Gb/s Using a Monolithic InP Flip-Flop Chip
AU - Pitris, S.
AU - Vagionas, C.
AU - Tekin, T.
AU - Broeke, R.
AU - Kanellos, G. T.
AU - Pleros, N.
PY - 2016/4/1
Y1 - 2016/4/1
N2 - We experimentally demonstrate an all-optical static random access memory (RAM) cell using a novel monolithic InP set-reset flip-flop (FF) chip and a single hybridly integrated semiconductor optical amplifier-Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI)-based access gate employing wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) data encoding. The FF device is a 6 × 2 mm2 InP chip having a 97.8% reduced footprint compared with previous FF devices that were successfully employed in optical RAM setups. Successful and error-free RAM operation is demonstrated at 5 Gb/s for both read and write functionalities, having a power penalty of 4.6 dB for write and 0.5 dB for read operations. The theoretical potential of this memory architecture to allow RAM operation with memory speeds well beyond 40 GHz, in combination with continuously footprint-reducing techniques, could presumably lead to future high-speed all-optical RAM implementations that could potentially alleviate electronic memory bottlenecks and boost computer performance.
AB - We experimentally demonstrate an all-optical static random access memory (RAM) cell using a novel monolithic InP set-reset flip-flop (FF) chip and a single hybridly integrated semiconductor optical amplifier-Mach-Zehnder interferometer (SOA-MZI)-based access gate employing wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) data encoding. The FF device is a 6 × 2 mm2 InP chip having a 97.8% reduced footprint compared with previous FF devices that were successfully employed in optical RAM setups. Successful and error-free RAM operation is demonstrated at 5 Gb/s for both read and write functionalities, having a power penalty of 4.6 dB for write and 0.5 dB for read operations. The theoretical potential of this memory architecture to allow RAM operation with memory speeds well beyond 40 GHz, in combination with continuously footprint-reducing techniques, could presumably lead to future high-speed all-optical RAM implementations that could potentially alleviate electronic memory bottlenecks and boost computer performance.
KW - Mach-Zehnder interferometer
KW - optical coupled switches
KW - optical memory
KW - optical RAM
KW - semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84966737828&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/JPHOT.2016.2526635
DO - 10.1109/JPHOT.2016.2526635
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
AN - SCOPUS:84966737828
SN - 1943-0655
VL - 8
JO - IEEE Photonics Journal
JF - IEEE Photonics Journal
IS - 2
M1 - 7400913
ER -