Mach–Zehnder interferometer-enabled optical flip-flop for photonic memory applications

Abstract Semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) play a crucial role in various applications, including optical networks, optical tomography, and optical logic systems. High-speed performance is particularly essential for applications in optical networks and logic circuits. SOA-based Mach–Zehnder interferometers (SOA-MZIs) have been widely utilized to demonstrate all-optical Boolean operations such as XOR, OR, AND, and NOR. A rate equation model for SOA-MZIs has been developed to analyze key optical logic devices, including the J-K Flip Flop. Simulation results indicate that these flip-flop circuits can operate efficiently at high speeds. Additionally, optical pseudo-random bit stream (PRBS) generators are vital for all-optical encryption systems. This study provides an in-depth discussion on the design principles, theoretical analysis, and experimental validation, demonstrating its potential for future high-performance optical computing applications having extinction ratio 25.08 dB, quality factor 55.30 dB and Optical cost of 6 unit.