Fast logic using ultrashort laser pulses

Claim 2

A logical connective, comprising: a source of input optical pulses, having certain characteristics; a multilevel medium resonant to the frequency of said input optical pulses, said medium having relaxation times long compared with the width of said input pulses, said optical pulses interacting with said resonant medium to rotate the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium upon passage therethrough, whereby the characteristics of said optical pulses are changed, said resonant medium having a switching portion which changes the angle of said input optical pulses and an analyzing portion which distinguishes the output pulses from said switching portion, said analyzing portion comprising a multienergy level medium in an unexcited state, and a lens system for changing the characteristics of pulses which exit from said switching portion.

Claim 3

The logical connective of claim 1, further including coupling means for coupling the output optical pulses from said analyzing portion to a succeeding logical connective.

Claim 4

The logical connective of claim 1, including means for optically biasing said switching portion into an excited state.

Claim 5

The logical connective of claim 1, where said optical pulses are approximately pi pulses.

Claim 6

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, wherein said optical pulses are approximately pi and 0 pulses.

Claim 7

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, wherein said optical pulses are approximately pi and 0 pulses.

Claim 8

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, where said resonant medium also comprises a coupling portion for converting the optical pulses from said analyzation portion to approximately pi pulses and for coupling said pi pulses from said analyzation portion to a succeeding logical connective.

Claim 9

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, where said resonant medium also comprises a coupling portion for converting the optical pulses from said analyzation portion to approximately pi pulses and for coupling said pi pulses from said analyzation portion to a succeeding logical connective.

Claim 10

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, where said switching portion is thin in the direction of the input optical pulses, said switching portion being of such a length and width that a pi pulse passing therethrough will be substantially unchanged in angle, said pulses exciting the entire switching portion upon passage therethrough, and said analyzation portion is thick in the direction of said input pulses, said thickness being sufficient that the angle of a pulse passing therethrough is substantially changed, said pulse not exciting said analyzation portion.

Claim 11

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, where said switching portion is thin in the direction of the input optical pulses, said switching portion being of such a length and width that a pi pulse passing therethrough will be substantially unchanged in angle, said pulses exciting the entire switching portion upon passage therethrough, and said analyzation portion is thick in the direction of said input pulses, said thickness being sufficient that the angle of a pulse passing therethrough is substantially changed, said pulse not exciting said analyzation portion.

Claim 12

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a mediUm resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, where said switching portion is totally excited upon passage of a pi pulse therethrough and said analyzation portion is not totally excited upon passage of a pi pulse therethrough.

Claim 13

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a mediUm resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, where said switching portion is totally excited upon passage of a pi pulse therethrough and said analyzation portion is not totally excited upon passage of a pi pulse therethrough.

Claim 14

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, where said switching portion has such a thickness that sequential pi pulses in opposite directions will not nullify the effect of one another in said switching portion.

Claim 15

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, where said switching portion has such a thickness that sequential pi pulses in opposite directions will not nullify the effect of one another in said switching portion.

Claim 16

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, wherein said switching portion is less than approximately one absorption length for said optical pulses and said analyzing portion is approximately four absorption lengths for said optical pulses.

Claim 17

A logical connective using coherent optical pulses as input logic pulses, comprising: a medium resonant with said optical pulses having relaxation times that are long compared with the width of said optical pulses, said medium having a switching portion capable of being optically biased to an excited state and an analyzing portion for distinguishing optical pulses exiting from said switching portion, said input optical pulses interacting with the pseudodipole moments of said resonant medium to rotate said pseudodipole moments when passing through said resonant medium, wherein said switching portion is less than approximately one absorption length for said optical pulses and said analyzing portion is approximately four absorption lengths for said optical pulses.

Claim 18

An arithmetic unit for performing binary operations utilizing optical pulses, comprising: at least two optical logic connectives each of which comprises a medium resonant to said optical pulses, said medium having relaxation times greater than the width of said optical pulse; means for guiding said optical pulses to selected portions of said logic connectives, wherein some optical pulses are transmitted through said connectives as signal pulses representing binary digit values, while other optical pulses are bias pulses for biasing various portions of said resonant media to excited states, wherein said logic connectives are an EXCLUSIVE OR connective and AND logical connective, said arithmetic unit operating to perform binary half addition.

Claim 19

An arithmetic unit for performing binary operations utilizing optical pulses, comprising: at least two optical logic connectives each of which comprises a medium resonant to said optical pulses, said medium having relaxation times greater than the width of said optical pulse; means for guiding said optical pulses to selected portions of said logic connectives, wherein some optical pulses are transmitted through said connectives as signal pulses representing binary digit values, while other optical pulses are bias pulses for biasing various portions of said resonant media to excited states, wherein said logic connectives are an EXCLUSIVE OR connective and AND logical connective, said arithmetic unit operating to perform binary half addition.

Claim 20

An arithmetic unit for performing binary operations utilizing optical pulses, comprising: at least two optical logic connectives each of which comprises a medium resonant to said optical pulses, said medium having relaxation times greater than the width of said optical pulses; means for guiding said optical pulses to selected portions of said logic connectives, wherein some optical pulses are transmitted through said connectives as signal pulses representing binary digit values, while other optical pulses are bias pulses for biasing various portions of said resonant media to excited states, wherein said binary pulses are substantially pi pulses and said resonant media has a first portion which is less than approximately one absorption length and a second portion which is approximately four absorption lengths in the direction of said binary valued pulses.

Claim 21

An arithmetic unit for performing binary operations utilizing optical pulses, comprising: at least two optical logic connectives each of which comprises a medium resonant to said optical pulses, said medium having relaxation times greater than the width of said optical pulses; means for guiding said optical pulses to selected portions of said logic connectives, wherein some optical pulses are transmitted through said connectives as signal pulses representing binary digit values, while other optical pulses are bias pulses for biasing various portions of said resonant media to excited states, wherein said binary pulses are substantially pi pulses and said resonant media has a first portion which is less than approximately one absorption length and a second portion which is approximately four absorption lengths in the direction of said binary valued pulses.

Claim 22

An arithmetic unit for performing binary operations utilizing optical pulses, comprising: at least two optical logic connectives each of which comprises a medium Resonant to said optical pulses, said medium having relaxation times greater than the width of said optical pulses; means for guiding said optical pulses to selected portions of said logic connectives, wherein some optical pulses are transmitted through said connectives as signal pulses representing binary digit values, while other optical pulses are bias pulses for biasing various portions of said resonant media to excited states, further including delay means for delaying said signal pulses with respect to said bias pulses.

Claim 23

An arithmetic unit for performing binary operations utilizing optical pulses, comprising: at least two optical logic connectives each of which comprises a medium Resonant to said optical pulses, said medium having relaxation times greater than the width of said optical pulses; means for guiding said optical pulses to selected portions of said logic connectives, wherein some optical pulses are transmitted through said connectives as signal pulses representing binary digit values, while other optical pulses are bias pulses for biasing various portions of said resonant media to excited states, further including delay means for delaying said signal pulses with respect to said bias pulses.

Claim 24

An arithmetic unit for performing binary operations utilizing optical pulses, comprising: at least two optical logic connectives each of which comprises a medium resonant to said optical pulses, said medium having relaxation times greater than the width of said optical pulses; means for guiding said optical pulses to selected portions of said logic connectives, wherein some optical pulses are transmitted through said connectives as signal pulses representing binary digit values, while other optical pulses are bias pulses for biasing various portions of said resonant media to excited states, where said resonant medium has a width in the direction of said bias pulses such that said bias pulses excite the entire width of said resonant medium.

Claim 25

An arithmetic unit for performing binary operations utilizing optical pulses, comprising: at least two optical logic connectives each of which comprises a medium resonant to said optical pulses, said medium having relaxation times greater than the width of said optical pulses; means for guiding said optical pulses to selected portions of said logic connectives, wherein some optical pulses are transmitted through said connectives as signal pulses representing binary digit values, while other optical pulses are bias pulses for biasing various portions of said resonant media to excited states, where said resonant medium has a width in the direction of said bias pulses such that said bias pulses excite the entire width of said resonant medium.

Claim 26

A logical connective having coherent optical pulses as input signal pulses, thereto comprising: switching means comprising a first resonant medium for said optical pulses having relaxation times greater than the duration of said input signal pulses, for changing the angle of said optical pulses representative of the rotation of pseudodipole moments within said medium; bias means for biasing said first medium into an excited energy state; analyzing means for distinguishing signal pulses exiting from said first medium on the basis of said representative angles, said analyzing means comprising a second resonant medium having relaxation times greater than the duration of said optical signal pulses wherein said second resonant medium is in an unexcited state and of sufficient length to change the angle of signal pulses exiting from said switching means.

Claim 27

A logical connective having coherent optical pulses as input signal pulses, thereto comprising: switching means comprising a first resonant medium for said optical pulses having relaxation times greater than the duration of said input signal pulses, for changing the angle of said optical pulses representative of the rotation of pseudodipole moments within said medium; bias means for biasing said first medium into an excited energy state; analyzing means for distinguishing signal pulses exiting from said first medium on the basis of said representative angles, said analyzing means comprising a second resonant medium having relaxation times greater than the duration of said optical signal pulses wherein said second resonant medium is in an unexcited state and of sufficient length to change the angle of signal pulses exiting from said switching means.

Claim 28

The logical connective of claim 15, wherein said analyzing means also comprises a lens system for changing the cross-sectional area of said signal pulses before said signal pulses enter said second resonant medium.

Claim 29

The logical connective of claim 16, wherein said first resonant medium does not substantially change said representative angle of input signal pulses, and said second resonant means does substantially change said representative angle of signal pulses passing therethrough.