All-Optical Terahertz Dual-Band Logic Gates Based on Unidirectional Modes
All-optical logic gates have emerged as a critical technology for enabling broadband, low-loss, and high-speed communication systems, addressing the inherent bandwidth limitations of electronic counterparts. Here, we propose a Y-shaped structure leveraging unidirectional modes in the terahertz regime, which enables the realization of multifunctional all-optical logic gates within the lower- and upper-frequency bandwidth regions, including, but not limited to, AND, OR, NOT, and XNOR gates. Numerical simulations and theoretical analyses confirm that the proposed logic gates exhibit robust one-way propagation characteristics, with electromagnetic signals demonstrating complete immunity to backscattering even in the presence of structural defects. Furthermore, nonlocal effects are found to have a negligible impact on the operational bandwidths of our design. Building upon this Y-shaped configuration, we further develop an all-optical digital logic system (AODLS) capable of supporting bifrequency multi-input and multi-output logic operations. When lower- and upper-frequency signals are injected into separate input ports, their corresponding output signals remain fully independent, eliminating cross-talk and enabling true parallel computation. This dual-band parallel processing capability represents a significant advance over conventional single-band all-optical logic systems, opening new avenues for high-throughput all-optical computing and integrated photonic circuits.
Authors
- Jie Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9960-1994)
- Guo Dewang
- Yun You
- Zhimin Liu
Institutions
- East China Jiaotong University (CN)
- Southwest Medical University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Micromachines
- Published
- 2026-04-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/mi17050509
- Primary Topic
- Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China