Patent ID: 8542422

Claim:
An optical flip-flop comprising first and second flip-flop elements configured to respectively provide first and second optical outputs, each output being in one of a plurality of states, wherein switching each of the first and second outputs from a relatively high power state to a relatively low power state has an associated falling edge transition time, and switching each of the first and second outputs from a relatively low power state to a relatively high power state has an associated rising edge transition time, wherein the rising edge transition time is greater than the falling edge transition time, the optical flip-flop comprising a processor configured to process the first and second outputs to provide an optical flip-flop output, being one of a plurality of state outputs, wherein switching the optical flip-flop output from a relatively high power state to a relatively low power state has an associated falling edge transition time, and switching the optical flip-flop output from a relatively low power state to a relatively high power state has an associated rising edge transition time, wherein the processor is configured to process the first and second outputs such that both the falling edge transition time and the rising edge transition time of the optical flip-flop output are independent of the rising edge transition times of both the first and second flip-flop elements.