Photonic NOT and NOR gates based on a single compact photonic crystal ring resonator

New all-optical NOT and NOR logic gates based on a single ultracompact photonic crystal ring resonator (PCRR) have been proposed. The PCRR was formed by removing the line defect along the Gamma M direction instead of the conventional Gamma X direction in a square-pattern cylindrical silicon-rod photonic crystal structure. The behavior of the proposed logic gates is qualitatively analyzed with the theory of beam interference and then numerically investigated by use of the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. No nonlinear material is required with less than a 2.2 mu m effective ring radius. The wavelengths of the input signal and the probe signal are the same. This new device can potentially be used in on-chip photonic logic-integrated circuits. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America