Direct optical communication on an optically reconfigurable gate array

Abstract

As one type of field programmable gate array (FPGA), optically reconfigurable gate arrays (ORGAs) have been undergoing continual development. ORGAs are optoelectronic devices consisting of a holographic memory, a laser array, a programmable gate array. Since the storage capacity of such holographic memory is greater than that of two-dimensional semiconductor memory, an ORGA can accommodate more huge gates and provide higher performance than FPGAs. A programmable gate array of an ORGA has numerous photodiodes that can be reconfigured optically using configuration contexts on a holographic memory. Although the photodiodes are normally used only for a configuration procedure, the photodiodes are useful for direct input of optical communication signals. This paper therefore presents a demonstration of optical communication on ORGA's programmable gate array.