Patent ID: 8457500

Claim:
An all-optical OR device comprising: a first optical signal processing block, the first optical signal processing block receiving a first optical input signal and a periodic optical signal; a second optical signal processing block, the second optical signal processing block receiving a second optical input signal and the periodic optical signal, wherein an output signal of the first optical signal processing block and an output signal of the second optical signal processing block are coherent; a phase shifter, the phase shifter introducing a phase offset between the output signals of the first and second optical signal processing blocks, the phase offset being substantially equal to 2π/3 radians; and a combiner, the combiner combining the phase-offset output signals of the first and second optical signal processing blocks, whereby the combiner provides an optical output signal representing an OR combination of the first and second optical input signals, wherein at least one of the first and second optical signal processing blocks includes: a delay element, the delay element delaying the respective optical input signal to generate a delayed optical input signal; a first nonlinear element, the first nonlinear element receiving the optical input signal and the periodic optical signal; a second nonlinear element, the second nonlinear element receiving the delayed optical input signal and the periodic optical signal; a phase shifter, the phase shifter introducing a phase offset between the output signals of the first and second nonlinear elements, the phase offset being substantially equal to π radians; and a further combiner, the further combiner combining the phase-offset output signals of the first and second nonlinear elements.