320 Gb/s all-optical XOR gate using semiconductor optical amplifier-Mach–Zehnder interferometer and delayed interferometer

Abstract

All-optical exclusive OR (XOR) gate with semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and delayed interferometer (DI) is demonstrated at 320 Gb/s through numerical simulation and analysis. The performance of the XOR gate is investigated and evaluated against the quality factor (QF). The obtained results indicate that placing the DI in series with the SOA-MZI renders acceptable QF of the XOR outcome at the target data rate, as opposed to the case without the DI, where the achievement of the same goal is not possible.