KR20000016570A - Optical logic element and optical logic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An optical logic element (OLE), particularly a multistate, optical logic element, and even more particularly to a proximity-addressable optical logic element is disclosed. CONSTITUTION: The OLE comprises an optical memory substance (1), which can transfer from one physical or chemical state to a second physical or chemical state. The memory substance (1) is provided in or on a layer-like structure, and an activator (2) which generates a magnetic, electromagnetic or electrical field or supplies energy to the memory substance (1) and an optical detector for detection of the memory substance's optical response conditional on the memory substance's physical or chemical state, is provided in or adjacent to the layer-like structure, the optical logic element (OLE) thus forming an integrated component. An optical logic device (OLD) comprises at least one structure (S) composed of the optical logic elements, where the optical memory substance (1), the activator (2) and the detector (3) in each optical logic element (OLE) in the structure (S) merges into and is connected to the memory substance, the activator and the detector in the surrounding logic elements (OLEs) in the structure (S). Each logic element (OLE) in the structure (S) has an unambiguous assignment between the memory substance (1) and the activator (2) and an assignment between the memory substance(1) and the optical detector (3) for unambiguous detection and can be accessed and addressed individually. The structures (S) in the optical logic device (OLD) may be entirely or partly configured as optical memories, logic and arithmetic circuits and registers respectively or in a combination of these, as an optical data processor.

Description

Optical Logic Elements and Optical Logic Devices

Today, digital optical data storage technology has been developed with the need to expand the capacity to store data in a compact format, and they have been particularly successful in providing solutions that combine large data area densities with alternative and / or mobility.

An important method has been to use small, high performance semiconductor lasers that emit interfering light that can be focused near a defined diffraction spot, thus correspondingly providing a tight arrangement and accurate definition of information bits in the data transfer medium. In practical systems, cost and space constraints have been designed to scan a surface of a rotating disk of a laser beam and extract a series of bitstreams along an optical guide track under servo control.

Systems based on this feature design have improved the fact that data densities are close to theoretical limits and that further improvements to meet future demands cannot be satisfied by increasing improvements as in the past.

One obvious limitation is the use of two-dimensional data storage formats. Although the region data density is high, the physical bit position results in a high mechanical performance stiffness and confined to flat surfaces on self-supporting surfaces, resulting in a relatively less impressive volume data density. Technical solutions have recently been published in which data is stored in different planes at different depths below the surface of the disc. The distinction between different layers is possible due to the very short depth of field associated with the correct focus and this principle is expected to be developed to include up to 10 planes or layers (eg EK (Stacking the decks for optical) data storage ", Optics and Photonics News, August 1994, p. 39). The benefits obtained from multiple layers or multiple levels can be partially offset by technical tradeoffs and cost issues between the number of layers on the one hand and the area data density achievable on each layer on the other hand. Even when implemented in accordance with the claimed claims, such technical solutions have the potential to maintain long-term development and improvement.

In most cases, the constraints on access time and data rate represent more serious drawbacks in spinning a disk system than the constraints on data density and capacity described above.

In applications where files on the disk must be accessed at high speed in an out of order sequence, the laser focusing servo must move the optical assembly radially at high speed from one location on the disk to another. At the correct radial position, tracking should resume at high speed, including two-dimensional alignment, adjustment of spinning speed, synchronization establishment, and search and identification of file headers. Such electromechanical procedures typically involve long access times of 200 ms or more. Efforts have been made to reduce access time, such as increasing disk rotation speed, to reduce the time taken for rotational alignment, and to reduce the weight of servo-controlled focusing and tracking components. However, improvements in one area entail disadvantages in other areas. Increasing the spinning speed exacerbates the so-called "whip-saw effect", i.e. the high speed deceleration and acceleration of the rotational speed required to maintain a constant beam scanning speed with respect to the surface of the disc when alternating between tracks at different radii. This is the main reason for the latency of optical disk-based data retrieval systems. Attempts to eliminate the whip-saw effect by driving at a constant rotational speed irrespective of the radial position lead to a reduction in area data density or increased technical complexity.

It is not surprising that these precise electromechanical optical systems will be slow at typical time scales (microseconds or shorter) in the pure electronics sector, and thus include optical disc drives containing direct random access memory (DRAM), including computers. Interfere with use as a fast access memory directly for a wide range of applications. Efforts have been made to eliminate the achilles tendon of the device, that is, the need for focusing and tracking without mechanical inertia. Solutions that have been studied include photoelectric deflectors, waveguides and diffractive optical elements. No mechanically and financially viable system with this feature has appeared substantially and is believed to be the same for years to come. In addition, the latency problem associated with disk rotation has not been solved by such means.

In a rotating disk system, data bits are read continuously as the laser beam scans along the track, and the data transfer rate depends on the linear data density and rotational speed along the track. In many applications, such as interactive multimedia, transmission speeds are a significant obstacle in current optical disc systems. Given the best approximate encoding and focusing of data in current developments typical of disc technology, there seems to be several choices available to increase the data transfer rate. One possibility is to increase the speed of rotation. This has been done in many use systems up to cost and power consumption, which quickly reduces the cost and power consumption return to further speed increases. Another method is to use several laser beams that individually address parallel tracks on a disc. As the number of parallel tracks increases, complexity and cost increase at a very high rate, and this scheme only provides speed improvements far below the planned future demands.

The above disadvantages have long been clearly recognized, other schemes have been proposed and experimentally studied, the most prominent being page-oriented memory and logic systems based on holographic techniques. In addition to the prospective three-dimensional, high-density volume data storage, the holographic system can be addressed in page-mode fashion, thereby providing intrinsic advantages for parallelism such as high transfer rates. High speed access of data by non-helpless optoelectronic means is under study. In addition, logic operations such as high speed parallel processing for object recognition have been studied. Holographic memory can be repeatedly erased and rewritten, stored in volumes where data volumes of gigabytes to terabytes can be comparable to sugar cubes, random access times ranging from microseconds to nanoseconds and hundreds of megabytes / It has been envisaged to indicate the data transfer rate of seconds (D. Psaltis and F. Mok, "Holographic memories", Scietific American, November 1995, pp. 52-58). Similar potential achievements have been described for other systems based on the confocal and multilaser (nonlinear) addressing principles ("The optical sugar cube", Photonics Spectra, September 1994, p. 50).

Another example of another page-based optical data storage system that may be mentioned is the high density in three dimensions by selectively activating the photochemical branch reaction from the temporary thermal intermediate in the main photocycle of the photosensitive protein-based storage medium. The invention is disclosed in WO 96/21228 (Birge) entitled "Branched photocycle optical memory device", which discloses a volume optical memory for storing information. In this case a so-called "paging" laser is used to activate a page or flat layer of a data storage medium with one wavelength length and the data laser transmits the selected data beam perpendicular to the selected layer or page at another wavelength length. However, this technique is not easy to implement as a real data storage device and has some disadvantages. To obtain high volume data density, the paging light must be very strong and even within a very narrowly defined spatial range with narrow intensity limits. This entails using a laser beam and relatively complex optical materials to form the beam. Secondly, a very precise controlled illumination sequence is required, including the use of three separate wavelengths. The optimal time control of the sequence is temperature dependent. Third, the write and read speeds are limited by the photocycle's time constant, and the access time is in the ms range. Fourthly, reading stored data reduces its contrast on the optical memory medium and thus requires refreshing after a certain number of times, for example 1000 read operations.

In SE Patent No. 501 106 (Toth), entitled "Optical memory", an optical memory of write once-multiple readings (WORM type) comprising a storage element with a stable optical state is disclosed. This storage element is divided into multiple memory locations, and the optical state at a given memory location can be changed and read by the light beam directed to the memory location. The memory as a whole can be realized without moving mechanical parts, has a very short addressing time, and in particular allows for high storage capacity. This memory also allows parallel writing and reading of many bit words. Actual storage media may be provided in several layers or levels. The light beam is thus focused at a given memory location and can store one byte at each memory location or x, y location using eight levels. In a 7 · 7 storage cell design, each 1 cm 2, 9.8 gigabytes could be stored at 8 levels and the recording speed would be 40 megabytes / second. Reading is done in absorption mode, which must have a fixed, different thickness in order to be able to distinguish between the individual levels in the code sequence. However, as the number of levels increases, the volume storage density decreases, and the necessity of focusing the light beam at the memory location and moving the light beam in the x, y directions involves cost and technical complexity.

Although the technical solution proposed so far is considered impressive, such performance in future commercial environments should be estimated for hardware costs, system complexity and overall device form factors. Based on the state of the art as disclosed in the known literature, holographic and other page-oriented systems or multilayer systems will be breakthroughs that can be predicted in future markets where the need for simplicity and low cost are important. The conclusion that I can't seem to be correct. Even if the components and materials are available at an acceptable price, the proposed structure actually seems to eliminate a truly straightforward solution.

The present invention relates to an optical logic element comprising an optical memory material, in particular a multi-state, multi-stable optical logic element, and more particularly to a proximity-addressable optical logic element, in which an applied magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field is applied. Or under the influence of the supplied energy, the optical memory material may convert from one physical state or chemical state to another physical state or chemical state, the physical state or chemical state is assigned a specific logic value, and the optical logic Changes in the physical or chemical state of an element cause the logic value to be altered and magnetically, electromagnetically, electrically or optically accessed and addressed to record, read, store, erase and switch the assigned logic value. Implemented by the optical logic element being do. The invention also relates, in particular, to an optical logic device for storing data or performing arithmetic logic operations, the device comprising a plurality of optical logic elements, the optical logic elements being in particular multi-state, multistable optical logic elements. And, more particularly, a near-addressable optical logic element comprising an optical memory material, wherein under the influence of an applied magnetic field, an electromagnetic field or an electric field or the supplied energy, the optical memory material is modified from one physical state or another to a physical state. State or chemical state, the physical state or chemical state is assigned a specific logic value, the change of the physical state or chemical state of the optical logic element causes the logic value to be changed and the assigned logical value Write, read, save, erase And the optical logic element being accessed and addressed magnetically, electromagnetically, electrically or optically for switching.

In general, the present invention relates to a new class of optoelectronic devices capable of performing logic functions and / or storing information by optical memory materials contained in individually addressable cells or elements. Each element is an independent unit and can be combined with similar elements to form a large assembly typically flat sheet or layer. The latter may be constructed in a triple structure by stacking to form optical data devices and optical memory devices with high performance-to-volume ratios.

1A illustrates an optical logic element in accordance with the present invention.

1B and 1C illustrate the operation of an optical logic element as a binary logic cell.

1D shows a field effect transistor for comparison.

2 illustrates a preferred embodiment of an optical logic element.

3 illustrates another preferred embodiment of an optical logic element.

4 illustrates the principle of a memory material in the form of an electron trapping material.

5a to 5d show the principle of the memory material in the form of a photosensitive form-reactive material, in this case bacteriodopsin form.

6 and 7 illustrate another preferred embodiment of the optical logic element of FIG.

8 illustrates a particularly preferred embodiment of the optical logic element of FIG.

9 shows the spectral characteristics of a light emitting polymer diode.

10 is a schematic representation of a light emitting polymer diode.

11 is a first structural design diagram of an optical logic device according to the present invention.

12 is a second design diagram of an optical logic device in accordance with the present invention.

13 illustrates a variation of the optical logic device of FIG.

14 illustrates another variation of the optical logic device of FIG.

15 is a schematic exploded view of the design structure of the optical logic device of FIG.

16 shows another design structure of an optical logic device according to the invention, based on the variant of FIG.

17 shows schematically an arrangement for addressing an optical logic device according to the invention.

18 illustrates 16 Boolean functions with two binary variables generated by an optical logic device in accordance with the present invention.

19 schematically illustrates a parallel algorithm for 4-bit binary full addition for implementation on an optical logic device in accordance with the present invention.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an optical logic element that can be employed to overcome the above disadvantages of the prior art and the proposed solution and to implement an optical memory, an optical arithmetic logic circuit, an optical switch and furthermore a high storage density, short Implementing optical data processing equipment with low cost and low technical complexity, with access time and very high data rates.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an optical logic element and an optical logic device based on the optical logic element, wherein the optical logic element and the optical logic device are regarded as structurally and functionally integrated units, and include accessing, addressing, The functions of the elements and devices, including activating, switching and detection, are all practically realized in the elements or devices.

Another object of the present invention is to realize volume data storage in a simple manner, so that the storage capacity is substantially dependent only on the form factor and inversely proportional to the physical size of the logical element.

The above and other objects provide that the memory material is substantially provided on or within the layered structure, and that an activator that generates a magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field and supplies energy to the memory material is substantially on or in the layered structure. Provided adjacent, an optical detector for detecting an optical response of the memory material subject to the physical or chemical state of the memory material is provided on or substantially adjacent to the layered structure and thus the memory An optical element comprising an integrated component of a material, an activator and the detector;

A memory material is provided on or within the layered structure substantially, and an activator for generating a magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field and for supplying energy to the memory material is provided on or adjacent the layered structure, the memory An optical detector for detecting the optical response of the memory material subject to the physical or chemical state of the material is provided on or adjacent to the layered structure, thereby providing integrated components of the memory material, activator and the detector. Achieved by an optical logic device comprising at least one structure formed by an optical logic element, wherein the optical memory material, activator and detector of each of said optical logic elements of said structure are combined and enclosed in said structure. Connected to one memory material, activator and detector of the learned logic element, so that the structure forms a flat or curved surface shape, and each optical logic element of the structure has an explicit assignment between the optical memory material and the activator. And an explicit assignment between the optical detector and the optical memory material for the explicit detection of the physical or chemical state of the memory state, thus allowing each of the optical logic elements of the structure to be accessed and addressed individually.

In a preferred embodiment of the optical logic element the memory material is provided in the form of a first layer and the activator is provided in the form of a second layer adjacent to the first layer or integrated in the first layer and detecting the state of the memory material. The optical detector is provided in the form of a third layer adjacent to the first layer, so that the optical logic element forms an integrated component consisting of at least three or two layers, respectively.

In addition, the activator preferably consists of one or more direct or indirect radiation-emitting means, the radiation-emitting means being provided on or embedded in the base material of the second layer. The radiation-emitting means is preferably a light-emitting diode, preferably a polymer diode.

It is also advantageous for the radiation-emitting means to be frequency-adjustable, which frequency adjustment is performed in connection with electrical addressing. Furthermore, it is preferred that the optical detector is an electrically accessible and addressable optical detector and for the electrical access and addressing of the activator and the detector, electrodes and electrical conductors are provided integrated in the second and third layers. For this purpose, it is advantageous for the electrode and the electrical conductor to be based on an electrically conductive polymer material.

In a preferred embodiment of the optical logic device the memory material of each logic element is provided in the form of a first layer, and the activator is provided in the form of a second form adjacent to or integrated in the first layer, An optical detector for detecting a state of the memory material is provided in the form of a third layer adjacent to the first layer, wherein the optical logic element forms an integrated component consisting of at least three or two layers, respectively, Each is coupled or connected to the corresponding layer in the logical element surrounding the structure, thereby forming the flat and curved surface bodies of each layer connected and adjacent to each other.

Each structure in the optical logic device is preferably in the form of a flexible thin film.

In particular, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the optical logic device comprises at least two combined structures stacked on top of one another, thus forming a chip-shaped or disk-shaped component integrated into a plurality of structures.

In a variant of the optical logic device according to the invention, one structure is preferably configured in whole or in part as an optical memory, with each optical logic element of the memory constituting a memory element that can be accessed and addressed individually. In a second variant of the optical logic device according to the invention, a structure is preferably partly configured as an optical arithmetic logic circuit or as a network of these circuits, each optical logic element of the circuit being individually accessible and addressable. Configure the switching element. In a third variant of the optical logic device according to the invention the group of optical logic elements of a structure is configured as a memory register, a logic register and an arithmetic register, respectively, wherein each optical logic element OLE and each register of one register is It can be accessed and addressed individually, and in this way the registers can be configured in combination as an optical data processor. Finally, the accessing and addressing of the logical elements in the optical logic device is preferably done via multiplexed communication lines assigned to the structure.

Further features and advantages of the invention are set forth in the remainder of the appended claims.

The present invention is now described in more detail through preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1a schematically illustrates a preferred embodiment of an optical logic element according to the invention. The memory material 1 is provided in the first layer l ₁ , and the activator 2 capable of generating a magnetic field, an electromagnetic field or an electric field and supplying energy to the memory material 1 is the first layer l ₁ . Is provided in layer l ₂ on one side of and detector 3 is provided in layer l ₃ on the opposite side of first layer l ₁ . The layers (l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ ) comprise the memory material (1), the activator (2) and the detector (3) as a whole, and the layers (l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ ) are formed of the base material, respectively. The memory material 1, the activator 2 and the detector 3 may each be provided or embedded thereon.

Figure 1B symbolically represents the operation of the optical logic element OLE according to the invention during the writing, reading and detection of logic state zero. In this case, energy is supplied to the memory material 1 in the form of light having a first wavelength λ ₁ , and reading is performed with light absorption having a second wavelength λ ₂ . The detected light indicating logic state 0 is indicated by a shorter photon symbol to indicate the intensity reduced by absorption. FIG. 1C shows the mode of operation of the optical logic element OLE during the detection of logic state 1, ie while no absorption occurs in the memory material _{1 of the} layer 1. 1D is a schematic diagram of an n-channel power transistor for showing similarity between an optical logic element and an electronic switching device according to the present invention. The read light absorption for logic states 0 and 1 corresponds to the drain voltage V _d of the field effect transistor.

2 shows an activator 2 incorporating one or more direct or indirect radiation-emitting means 2 ₁ ,..., 2 _n provided in layer l ₂ . A radiation at 2 - emission means _{(2 1, ..., 2 n} ) is embedded, but are provided in the base material layer (l _2), it may be provided in the layer ₍₂ l). In a preferred embodiment the layers l ₁ and l ₂ can be combined to form a common layer l _c . This layer will comprise an activator 2 with radiation-emitting means 2 ₁ ,..., 2 _n and a memory material 1. This embodiment is beneficial if the activator is destroyed during writing to the logical element OLE, which is intended to be erased and / or rewritten as it may be relevant if it must form part of a storage device of type ROM or WORM. It doesn't work.

Optical memory material 1 may be photosensitive and may be in two or more distinct physical states, as shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C. The physical state can be determined by the response of the state to the incident probe light or the read light. The logic state can be detected, for example, by exciting the activator differently according to a particular readout protocol, whereby the optical memory material 1 responds to incident light by optical transmission and emission of logic-state-independent light.

The basic properties of the optical logic element OLE are obviously independent of the read / write properties of the memory material. Changes in the memory material during the writing process cannot be reversed, resulting in optical logic elements performing memory functions of the ROM and WORM types. However, the description below focuses on non-volatile and recoverable memory materials, i.e. they remain in a logic state generated until actuated by write, read or erase light. However, they can be erased, erased and rewritten many times by irradiating light. Another feature of the memory material is whether it can convey multilevel information, ie gray scaled information, or whether it responds to a readout protocol of binary nature, logic state 0 or 1.

As described above, even when the memory material 1 is changed from one physical / chemical state to another by applying light, it is possible to exclude the use of other energy forms according to the present invention to affect the state of the memory material. None, this may include a magnetic field, an electromagnetic field or an electric field and may supply energy in the form of heat. This may be necessary to form a dark reaction at the process stage between the logic states of the memory material, or to allow incident light to shift the absorption band to shift the absorption band if the memory material is a photosensitive material that absorbs a particular wavelength. It may be appropriate to create conditions that have the same effect.

From the foregoing it will be clear that the optical element according to the invention obtains basic properties from the memory material. Two types of memory materials that can be recovered are described, namely two types of memory that can be cycled more than once through their logical state by employing appropriate protocols for writing, reading and erasing.

Electron trapping materials are typically organic semiconductor materials doped with rare earth ions. Electron trapping materials are provided for storing data at high density and provide high data rates and recovery rates. J. Lindmayer's paper "A new erasable optical memory", Solid State Technology, August 1988.

A general illustration of the mode of operation of the electron trapping material is shown in FIG. 4. Recording is done by capture occurring at energy levels E and T. When the recording light excites the atoms of the two rare earth metals used as dopants, their atoms are raised to energy level E where both types of atoms are present and subsequently captured at level T where only one atom type is present. . Exposure to light near the infrared wavelength at level T raises electrons into the communication band, from which they descend to the ground state, resulting in data erasing.

The electron trapping material may have a host lattice in the form of alkaline earth sulfides such as CaS, SrS, MgS or mixtures thereof. When rare earth europium and samarium are employed as dopants, the memory material absorbs 450-550 nm of incoming light, whereby the europium ions absorb photon energy and transfer some of it to samarium ions. The latter is excited from the trapped state because their state is stable, i.e. it becomes very stable if the samarium ions do not protrude from the trap through the absorption of an appropriate amount of energy. The latter is the case when the memory material is irradiated with light of 850-1200 nm wavelength, and the former electrons emit light at a wavelength of 600-700 nm upon switching to the ground state. In this case, therefore, recording is performed by irradiating light of 450-550 nm wavelength, and reading is performed by irradiating light of 850-1200 nm wavelength with simultaneous detection of fluorescence of 600-700 nm wavelength.

Instead of the electron trapping material, the memory material may be a structure-reactive material, in particular a photosensitive structure-reactive material capable of passing through a photocycle. Examples of such materials may be some type of dye protein. A relatively well studied type of protein is bacteriododocin and occurs in the membranes of the microorganism, halobacterium salinaripon. A more thorough description of the characteristics of bacteriododoxin for the purpose of optical data storage is given to the applicant and is described in NO patent application 97 2574, which is a priority of the present application.

When bacteriododocin absorbs light, it passes through a photocycle that generates an intermediate state with maximum absorption in the entire visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1A, which represents the photocycle of bacteriododocin and indicates the sequence of structural change induced by light. Light-induced transitions or excitation transitions are indicated by shaded arrows, and non-shaded arrows indicate transitions due to thermal relaxation. The green light converts the bacteriododoxin's ground state (bR) to an intermediate state K that forms the M state and subsequently relaxes the O state. Retention time in the M state depends on the strain and temperature of the bacteriododocin employed. When bacteriododocin in the O state is exposed to red light, a so-called branch reaction occurs. The O state goes to the P state, which relaxes to the Q state at high speed, and bacteriododocin is shown in a stable state over a very long period of time. In different strains of bacteriododocin that employ aspartic acid residues 85 and 96, the life of the Q state can be extended to several years. If aspartic acid 85 is replaced with a nonpolar amino acid such as asparagine, the formation of a stable M state is prevented and the main photocycle forms the O state (or an intermediate state very similar to the O state) at high speed (RR Birge, Ann. Rev Phys. Chem., 41, pp. 683-733 (1990)). However, if bacteriododocin is irradiated in Q state with blue light, it recovers to ground state bR. If the O state is not irradiated with red light, in a short time it will be relaxed to the ground state bR. Any two states with a long lifetime can be assigned a binary logic value of 0 or 1, thus allowing information to be stored in the bacteriodopsin molecule in one of the states.

5B is a diagram of the main photocycle of bacteriododocin. The main photochemical transformation associated with the use in the optical logic element according to the invention is shown in the diagram as a sequence generally circulating the diagram in a clockwise direction. bR indicates the bottom state of bacteriododocin, and capital letters indicate different states in the photocycle. The numbers in the brackets represent the center wavelength of the absorption bands in nanometers for different states or types of bacteriododocin. The transition achieved by photo-induced excitation is denoted by h _v and possibly time constant τ _v , and the transition due to the thermal reaction is denoted by the time constant τ _ρ for the first order relaxation time at nearly room temperature.

Irradiating the bacteriodopsin molecule in ground state or dormant bR with light centered at 570 nm forms an excited state K with very short lifetime. As can be seen, the K state has an absorption bandwidth centered at 600 nm, and if the bandwidth extends beyond bN state to 600 nm or more upon excitation, the molecules in the K state will return to the ground state bR. However, this transition is believed to have low quantum efficiency, and since the K state is unstable and goes to the L state at high speed, most of the molecules in the K state will be forced in the photocycle even when circulating to the ground state bR. Intermediate state M, with its absorption band centered at 410 nm, thermally relaxes to intermediate state N for a short period of about 1-3 ms, which in turn thermally relaxes to intermediate state O. As noted above, in various modifications of bacteriododocin, the M state can have a relatively long life cycle of up to several minutes and thus can be used to represent logical states 0 or 1 if archive storage is not essential over very long periods. have. At this point it can be said that the M state consists of two states M ₁ and M ₂ which have substantially the same absorption spectrum. In addition, during previous attempts to store holographic data with bacteriorhodosin by the M state, a gradual decrease in sensitivity and contrast was observed, which subsequently led to loss of active molecules during branch reactions to the P and Q states. (RR Birge, Private communication, 1996). It can be seen from the diagram that the M state returns to the ground state when irradiated by converging light near the center wavelength of the absorption band of 410 nm. The convergence of light near the absorption center wavelength of the ground state bR, ie near 570 nm, will not naturally force the M state to return to the bR state. The O state has an absorption center wavelength of 640 nm and, if irradiated by light with an effective bandwidth centered near this wavelength, causes the photocycle branch reaction to a medium state P with a relatively long lifetime of up to several minutes. I will not let you go. The P state is thermally relaxed to the intermediate state of the most stable photocycle, the Q state, which has a lifetime of over several years. Therefore, the Q state can be employed to represent a logical state that should be maintained for many years. The stable ground states bR and Q states are suitable when the bacteriododoxin constitutes a storage medium when the optical logic element according to the invention is to be used in an optical data storage device suitable for storage.

If the Q state is illuminated with blue light with an effective band width centered at the absorption center wavelength of 380 nm, the Q state goes to the ground state bR, and the time indication "> 1 year" is the time for which the Q state is several years. Thermally relaxed to ground state bR as a constant. The P state returns to the O state by light absorption with an effective bandwidth centered near the absorption center frequency of the P state of 490 nm. Moreover, in a normal photocycle, the O state is thermally relaxed to the ground state bR with a time constant of about 4 ms at room temperature.

For another visualization of the photocycle of bacteriododocin, it is shown graphically in FIG. 5C. The outer circle shows the progression of the photocycle clockwise from the ground state bR through the intermediate states K, L, M, N and O states and subsequently to the ground state bR. The branch reaction of the photocycle is represented by an internal circular arc with P and Q states reached from the O state. Metastable states with relatively long lifetimes, ie M, P and Q, are shown in hatched portions. The circular sector represents the region of the photocycle containing states Q and bR for the present invention which should be considered to be stable. Photo-induced transitions in photocycles important to the present invention are indicated by numbered arrows. In the diagram, a very transient state that is not important to the invention is omitted. The same applies if the intermediate state consists of several states with substantially the same absorption spectrum.

Absorption spectra of different species or states of bacteriodopsin are illustrated in FIG. 5D, which also indicates a stable effective bandwidth for investigating one type of bacteriodopsin to validate the excitation in another state. The effective bandwidth centered around 600 nm affects the N, bR, K and O states, but the result of this illumination will force at least a significant portion of the number of molecules to be relatively stable from bR. It will be apparent that the same result can be achieved by continuously irradiating the ground state bR with a light pulse centered at 570 nm, thus bringing the bR state to the O state, while centering at 640 nm at 570 nm. The light pulse simultaneously extends and irradiates the bacteriododocin, thus bringing the O state to the P state. The meaning of this matter will be explained in more detail in the following paragraphs. It can be seen from FIG. 5D that the Q state can be effectively excited to the ground state bR by irradiating molecules in the Q state at 380 nm or with light having a bandwidth of 360-400 nm as an example.

The memory material 1 may be fluorescent when excited by the activator 2, and the memory material 1 emits the fluorescence detected by the detector 3. In other words, the detection takes place in radiation. The use of fluorescent materials for data storage is well known to those skilled in the art in addition to those described in this patent specification, and further description thereof is omitted.

Several preferred embodiments of the optical logic element according to the invention are now described in more detail.

FIG. 6 shows an optical logic element OLE provided with electrodes 4, 4 ′ and electrical conductors 5, 5 ′ for electrical accessing and addressing of the optical detector 3 and activator 2, respectively. For this purpose the electrodes 4, 4 ′ or the electrical conductors 5, 5 ′ are provided integrated in the second and third layers l ₂ , l ₃ , respectively. The electrodes 4, 4 'and the electrical conductors 5, 5' may each preferably be made on the basis of an electrically conductive polymer material. If the electrical conductors 5, 5 ′ are arranged in a mutually orthogonal configuration on each side of the layers l ₁ , l ₃ , respectively, the electrical conductors 5, 5 ′ where the electrodes 4, 4 ′ are each arranged orthogonally Can be realized as an intersection point between Furthermore, another layer l ₄ can be provided, as shown in FIG. 7, for the generation of an electric field adjacent to or in the first layer l ₁ . This can be achieved by having a layer (l ₄ ) made of ferroelectric, photoelectric or similar material, the generated electric field affecting the response of the optical memory material 1 in the time domain, frequency domain or intensity domain Used. An example of this is The above-mentioned SE patent 501 106 is provided wherein a photo-conductive layer having photoresist properties is provided between the memory material and the electrode matrix on one side of the memory material. This allows the electric field to be selectively applied to the optical logic element by simultaneously applying an electrical control voltage between the layer ₁₄ and the electrode ₄ if the activator is radiation-emitting means.

The radiation-emitting means 2 may be a semiconductor laser in the form of a diode laser of the layer l ₄ between the electrodes 4, 4 ′. A plurality of radiation-emitting means 2 ₁ ,..., 2 _n may be provided as shown in FIG. 2, in which case different preselected frequencies are provided, for example by providing diode lasers with specific radiation characteristics. It can be arranged to radiate into.

The radiation-emitting means 2 can also be indirect radiation-radiating means, in which case it must be activated by an external radiation source 2 ^′ , not shown in detail. This kind of external radiation source must be provided outside the optical logic element OLE, and if the optical logic elements are combined to form a two dimensional matrix constituting the optical logic device OLD, this is radiation to the edges and to the outside of the matrix. It can be realized by providing a source, in which case the layer l ₁ must be able to act as a waveguide propagating light indirectly through the transparent base material of the layer l ₁ to the radiation-emitting means. Such layer-shaped optical waveguide l ₂ may likewise be embodied as a microstrip line or an optical fiber waveguide and is not described herein any further.

It is generally preferred that the proximity-addressable logic device based on the proximity-addressable logic element provides the radiation-emitting means 2 provided directly in the layer l ₂ .

In this case the radiation-emitting means 2 may be a light-emitting diode, in which organic light-emitting diodes based on the conjugated polymer are particularly preferred. Such light-emitting polymer diodes are described in the internationally published international patent application WO 95/31515, entitled "Colour source and method for its fabrication", to which the present applicant is entitled, referred to herein. . This kind of light-emitting polymer diode can emit light of various wavelengths by changing the diode operating voltage. These diodes can emit light at different wavelengths, for example mainly red light at low operating voltages and blue light at high operating voltages, while red and blue light of varying intensity in the stop stop at medium operating voltages. Can be obtained from This diode can be fabricated from a polymer thin film with a conjugated polymer region and tens of nanometers thick and the size of individual diodes that are not very large. As integrated as radiation-emitting means in the optical logic element, they may be compatible with optical logic elements of similar size.

8 illustrates an optical logic element according to the present invention implemented as a near-addressable optical logic element. In this case, the memory material 1 may be a constituent-responsive, photosensitive material such as bacteriodopsin which forms the layer l ₁ .

Adjacent to the photosensitive material 1 or the structure l ₁ , the emitter or light source 2 is preferably provided in the layer 1 _{2 in the} form of a light-emitting polymer diode. The light-emitting polymer diode 2 is supplied with an operating voltage through two electrodes 4, 4 ′ connected to the power source 6. The light-emitting polymer diode 2 is provided adjacent to a photosensitive material, i.e., bacteriodopsin, to be driven through a photocycle. This means that the electrode 4 'must be transparent. Furthermore, the light-emitting polymer diode 2 for driving the bacteriorhodosin 1 via a photocycle must provide wavelength-adjustable radiation, which is described in more detail, for example in International Patent Application WO 95 /. It will be associated with a design structure in the form of a voltage-adjustable polymer diode of the type as described in 31515. Opposite the photo-radiative polymer diode 2 and likewise adjacent to the bacteriododosin layer l ₁ , the signal voltage V _D radiated from the photoelectric or photoconductive detector 3 to the operational amplifier 7 upon detection of light is A photoelectric or photoconductive detector 3 is provided in the form of a layer l _{3 to} which electrodes 4, 4 ′ are likewise transmitted. Obviously, in this case too, the detector electrode 4 facing the bacteriododosin layer l ₁ must be transparent.

As mentioned above, voltage-adjustable color light sources in the form of light-emitting polymer diodes have already been described with reference to International Patent Application No. WO95 / 31515, supra, and described by Nature 372, pp. 444-446 (1994). By varying the operating voltage V _E applied across the electrodes, these light-emitting polymer diodes will emit light at different wavelengths. Design examples of this kind of light-emitting polymer diodes are common, and the spectral properties of the emitted light can be controlled to a wide range by appropriate choice of light-emitting materials. For this description, when spectral application is required for the light-absorption properties of bacteriododoxin in different states, the light-emitting polymer diode emits chromatin light at low voltage (V _E ) and the emission of blue light increases with increasing voltage. It is assumed to be. This is illustrated in detail in FIGS. 9A-C and shows the spectral characteristics and intensities for the applied voltage V _E of 5 volts in FIG. 9A. Emission occurs in the form of red light with a peak spectrum of about 630 nm. In this case, the usefulness rate is 100%. In FIG. 9B the voltage is increased to 16 volts and the usefulness is reduced to 50%. The light-emitting polymer diode still remains at the highest spectrum of about 630 nm, while at the same time increasing blue light emission of about 400 nm. Emissions at wavelengths over about 530 nm with a 21 volt applied voltage with a 20% utility rate are relatively reduced and emission peaks are obtained with high intensity blue light centered at about 430 nm, as shown in FIG. 9C. The voltage-controlled emitter, which is a light-emitting polymer diode as described in the above-mentioned International Patent Application WO 95/31515, has a plurality of physically separated light-emitting regions 9, as shown in FIGS. 9 '), which can be regarded as a schematic cross section through the emitter layer l ₂ . Regions 9, 9 ′ may be embedded in a transparent base material 8, which may itself be a polymer, and each region 9, 9 ′ may be with only one type of light-emitting polymer, ie blue or red light. It only includes light-emitting polymers having a narrow bandgap that mainly emits (e.g. 9) or a wide bandgap that emits mainly blue light (e.g. 9 '). If the regions 9, 9 'are located wide and relatively far apart, this causes problems due to unpredictable and non-uniform light emission from the light-emitting diodes and for some optical radiation geometries the central given in the bacteriodopsin structure It shows poor spatial overlap between the red and blue light impinging on the point. Experimental testing can, with reference to WO 95/31515, above, obtain typical sizes and distances in the region ranging from at least several 10 nm to several 100 nm for this time point, which results in the base material 8 or polymer. The scale factor in the thickness of the layer corresponds to the cross-sectional area because the area contacts the electrodes 4, 4 'at the surface of the base material. The effect due to spatially separated light emission will therefore only be identified with very small light-emitting polymer diodes, typically scale factors of several nanometers. On the other hand, there is an indication that the size of the light-emitting polymer diode 2 can be significantly reduced by reducing the size of the regions 9, 9 ', and thus a light-emitting diode of size about 10 nm or so. Even if equipped with any undesirable spatial effects to prevent. The thickness of the emitter layer l ₂ can be comparable, which makes it possible to implement the optical logic element according to the invention with a thickness of at least a theoretical number of nm and correspondingly.

The photoelectric or photoconductive detector 3 is the same in terms of the design for the emitter 2 or the color light source, i.e. the use of the same polymer diode shown in FIG. Depending on the detected deviation in the light intensity, it generates a signal voltage or generates an output voltage V _D of the detector at the electrodes 4, 4 '. In the same way, in this case the detector 3 must be adjusted to the spectral characteristics of the emitter 2. The same scale factor is also applied to the detector 3 for the size of the regions 9, 9 ′, the light-emitting polymer diode 2, which determines the layer thickness. Obviously, the layer thickness must be compatible with the area cross section, thus allowing contact with the electrodes 5, 5 '.

It can be seen that the optical logic element (OLE) described with reference to the use of a photosensitive organic material, namely bacteriododoxin and a photosensitive polymer diode, is designed to be near-addressable, so that light is provided outside and between this and the emitter. If delivered to the photosensitive organic material through an optically active structure in the form of refractive or diffractive elements it is prevented from being limited to the scale factor present. In this case the size of the optical logic element is limited by the wavelength of the optical radiation used.

An optical logic device OLD according to the invention is now described with reference to FIGS. 11-17.

FIG. 11 shows a case where the optical logic device is in the form of a structure S by a two-dimensional array or optical logic elements (OLEs) and shows the cross-section of the optical logic elements in rows, m * with m = n = 5 OLE ₁₁ and OLE _1n are illustrated in the n array. Figure 12 shows an optical logic device according to the invention, wherein the structures S ₁ , ..., S _x or two-dimensional arrays of optical logic elements OLEs are stacked in layers, and thus two of the optical logic elements The dimensional array forms the surface body structure S in the volume optical logic device OLD. The optical logic device OLD is thus embodied in a three dimensional array with m * n * x logic elements as a three dimensional array, where x is the number of stacked structures S. 12 schematically shows a cross section of a stacked row of connected arrays forming structure S, taking m = 1 rows in an m * n array, with two optical logic elements OLEs in structure S ₁ . ) Are indicated as OLE ₁₁ and OLE _1n , respectively. As shown in FIG. 12, the optical logic device OLD comprises five structures S, thus x = 5 and FIG. 12 is capacitive with 5 * 5 * 5 = 125 optical logic elements OLEs. It is contemplated to illustrate an optical logic device. An insulating layer l ₅ is provided between each structure optically, thermally and / or electrically.

In a variant of the optical logic device OLD, a group of optical logic elements OLEs in the form of a row, column or sub-array of an m * n array, for example, covers all the logic elements in the group, as shown in FIG. Can be assigned to a common optical detector (3).

As shown in FIG. 14, each structure S is used for accessing and addressing the optical logic device OLD and is assigned to the optical logic elements OLEs forming part of the structure S. 4 ') and one or more layers l ₆ comprising an electrical conductor 5,5'. As shown in FIG. 14, the electrical conductors 5, 5 ′ can be provided orthogonal to one another, in which case the intersection point between the electrical conductors 5, 5 ′ at each optical logic element OLE. It is possible to implement electrodes 4, 4 ′ at, for example, forming diode structures in layers l ₂ and l ₃ between the crossing points of electrical conductors 5, 5 ′.

The arrangement of the near-addressable optical logic elements (OLEs) in the array is shown in perspective view in FIG. 15, where an activator layer (l ₂ ), a memory material layer, which forms an individual layer of the array, ie optical logic elements (OLEs). (l ₁ ) and detector layer (l ₃ ) are shown in disassembled form. The array of m * n logical elements (OLEs) is shown in FIG. 15 as the actual 5 * 5 array. The activator layer l _{2 is} provided with electrical conductors 5, 5 ′ with electrodes 4, 4 ′ respectively positioned at the intersection points between the electrical conductors 5, 5 ′, which apply a voltage. If the activator 2 is a light-emitting diode, it will emit light that affects the memory material in the form of a photosensitive organic material, such as bacteriodopsin in layer l ₁ . Detection takes place in the detector layer l ₃ , in which case light-absorption detector divides 3 are likewise obtained with illumination at the intersection points between the provided electrical conductors 5, 5 ′. The optical logic element thus formed is shown as OLE ₁₃ , in which case each layer l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ or matrix is shown as a 5 * 5 matrix for simplicity.

The optical logic element shown in FIG. 15 can now be used to form a volume optical logic device, consisting of a structure S in the form of multiple layers or matrices S ₁ ,..., S _x . This optical logic device OLD is shown in cross section in FIG. 16 and each individual layer S is provided with an activator layer l ₂ , a memory material layer l ₁ and a detector layer l ₃ . As shown in FIG. 15, conductors 5, 5 ′ are provided integrated in layer 1 ₆ as shown, and an optical logic element (OLE) electrode will be formed between the intersections of conductors 5, 5 ′. . An insulating layer l ₅ may be provided between each structure S and possibly at the top and bottom of the device OLD, optically, thermally and / or electrically. As shown in FIG. 16, the device is shown in the form of a cube with 5 * 5 * 5 optical logic elements, i.e. a total of 125 optical logic elements, for simplicity purposes. The size of the optical logic element OLE inside the structure S ₁ is shown and corresponds to the optical logic element OLE ₁₃ as illustrated in FIG. 15.

Because each of the optical logic elements (OLEs) is near-addressed, that is, the emitter and detector are arranged adjacent to the photosensitive organic material and located inside the device, the number of elements of the m * n array is substantially different from each other. It may comprise a plurality of structures (S) that can be stacked on top of each other.

In an optical logic device OLD based on the use of near-addressable optical logic elements (OLEs) according to the invention as shown in FIGS. 11-12, the implementation of an assigned activator 2 and detector 3 If the photosensitive constituent-reactive material is used with the smallest possible size, at least in theory the limit in the scale factor is only the molecular size of the memory material 1. In practice, the test shows that when using a light-emitting polymer diode, the optical logic element can now be implemented in tens of nanometers in size, and correspondingly the conductor structure shows small for the electrodes for the emitter and detector, and the optical logic The actual area of the element may be between 2500 nm 2 and 10000 nm 2. This zone is 10 ¹⁰ Optical logic element per ㎠ and the corresponding worst case, the 10-up ¹⁵ of the present invention per 1 ㎤ be implemented in a volume with a layer thickness that may be achieved at the addressable optical logic devices. It is believed that it is possible to achieve a linear scale improvement on the order of magnitude, thus allowing 10 ¹⁸ optical logic elements to be implemented in 1 cm 3 according to the present invention. In order to indicate an indication of the storage capacity of such an optical logic device implemented as optical memory, it should be mentioned that it corresponds to storing pages of a general book of 10 ¹⁰ , which may be sufficient for most types of archive storage.

17 schematically shows an arrangement for addressing a monolithic structure S ₁ in an optical logic device OLD according to the invention. For simplicity, FIG. 17 shows the structure S _{1 in the} form of a 5 * 5 array, an array with 25 logic elements. Each row or column in this array is provided with an electrical conductor 5, 5 ′ in an orthogonal configuration, thereby allowing the optical logic element to be accessed and addressed between the crossing points of the electrical conductors 5, 5 ′. This arrangement makes it possible to address and activate all optical logic elements (OLEs). The electrical conductors 5, 5 ′ are shown in cross section in FIG. 17 and connected to respective driver circuits 10, 11 connected via an interface 12 having a main bus 13 extending perpendicular to the plane of the figure. In this way it is connected to all structures S which form part of the optical logic device OLD. It is possible to clearly address the optical logic device OLD at the structural level, or in the optical logic element of each structure S which is functionally cooperative, or in a single optical logic element OLE of each structure S. It may be convenient for addressing to be performed in a structural arrangement. Those skilled in the art will be able to implement various methods of accessing and addressing adjacent volume, optical logic devices, and parallel access and addressing using multiplexed communication lines. However, the accessing and addressing arrangements do not form part of the invention and are therefore not described further.

The optical logic device OLD according to the invention is not only suitable for data storage but also can be implemented as a device for data processing. In this case, data processing is coupled in the optical logic network by the optical logic element to perform optical logic operations and by optical logic gates and optical logic gate circuits that perform these functions, and binary by arithmetic registers based on binary logic. It should be appreciated that it is meant to be coupled to an arithmetic circuit in order for the arithmetic operation to be performed. Since each optical logic element (OLE) of the register and each register can be accessed and addressed separately, they constitute a group of optical logic elements (OLE) in structures S such as memory registers, logical registers and arithmetic registers. It will be possible to. The register may be configured to jointly form the optical data processor. Such optical data technology is similar to conventional data technology based on semiconductor components and is familiar to those skilled in the art. In this regard, see Alastair D. McAulay, "Optical Computer Architectures, The Application of Optical Concepts to Next Generation Computers", John Wiley & Sons (1991), in particular "Part II: Subsystems for Optical Computing", pp 127-342. Can be.

The optical logic element (OLE) according to the present invention is capable of 16 possible Boolean logic functions by binary variables, regardless of whether an electron trapping material is employed as the memory material or a photosensitive constituent-reactive material such as bacteriododocin is employed. Can be combined in an optical logic device OLD, which should be used for data processing to form a logic circuit that performs the operation. The combination of four optical logic elements (OLE) for realizing the sixteen Boolean logic functions is shown in FIG. 18, where logic 0 is represented by a hatched portion and logic 1 is represented by a 2 * 2 array of non-hatched portions. have. These 16 Boolean logic functions by binary variables are shown in Table 1, while Table 2 below shows how Boolean functions are generated by combining logical operations.

Referring to Table 3 below, some Boolean logic functions are realized by two binary variables by optical logic elements (OLEs) in which the memory material 1 is an electron trapping material. In this case, the electron trapping material is brought into a common state by irradiation with blue light. Subsequent irradiation with red light releases the trapped electrons and orange light is emitted. In this case the activator 2 can be designed as two separate addressable radiation-emitting means, such as in the form of voltage-adjustable, light-emitting diodes. A band pass filter can now be used in the form of a layer between the memory material 1, ie the electron trapping material and the detector 3, thus blocking blue and red light. Stimulated orange fluorescent light is detected.

Generation of Boolean Functions in Electron Capture Materials function action AND: Input A: Blue light for variable value 1 (no light = 0) Input B: Red light for variable value 1 (no light = 0) Result: If A and B are activated and blue and red light flashed, orange output Is flashed and provides a detector signal, i.e. AB = 1 OR: Input A: Blue and red light for variable value 1 (no light = 0) Input B: Blue and red light for variable value 1 (no light = 0) Result: A, B or both flashing in step 1 If so, the orange output is flashed and provides a detector signal, ie A + B = 1. ZERO: -No illumination-result: no orange flashing; No detector signal, i.e.: 0 (zero) IDENTITY Input Independent: Red illumination after blue illumination Result: Orange flashing, detector signal, i.e. 1 (one) B NOT: Input independent preliminary: Blue illumination Input A: Red light for variable value 1 (empty trap) (no light = 0) Input B: Red light for variable value 1 (no light = 0) Result: Orange flashing So if the detector signal, i.e. A = 0 and B = 1 B = 1 earned-A : Change the role of A and B

If bacteriodopsin is used as the memory material, in this case the memory material exhibits its different logical state by changing the light transmittance, and the detection is performed in the absorption mode rather than the emission mode as in the case of fluorescence. The implementation of some boolean functions with two variables is shown in Table 4, where the photocycle for bacteriododocin is assumed to be used when its molecules are switched between the ground state (bR) and the metastable M state. Irradiation of the bR state by yellow light transitions to the M state that absorbs blue light, and irradiation with the blue light in the M state causes the bacteriododosin molecule to become the ground state (bR). The molecular state can be monitored by measuring the absorption of blue light by the weak blue probe beam. In the arrangement shown in Table 4, when blue light is employed for the preprocessing step and as an input signal for the output signal, it will be necessary to perform discrimination by time sequencing. The photocycle including the M state is partially thermally driven with a time constant tau _p which is several milliseconds. In order to achieve a high overall throughput, it is necessary for the optical logic elements OLEs of the optical logic device OLD or a group of these optical logic elements OLEs to be addressed in parallel. The use of bacteriorhodosin as memory material 1 can provide several means for implementing optical logic circuits based on the use of optical logic elements (OLEs) according to the invention. The treatment of the bR state by yellow light and the treatment of the M state by blue light are driven by photochemical reactions, ie photons, and in each case the switching speed mainly depends on the light emission intensity used. It is also possible to switch between the ground state (bR) and the K state, so the transition occurs at a very high speed (τ _p to 10 ps). After absorption of blue light in the bR state, the molecule can be driven for the K state through the intermediate state J for several picoseconds. The K state absorbs the shifted wavelength compared to the absorption wavelength of the bR state, ie the absorption wavelength of 590 nm, and can be returned to the bR state by an ultrafast photo-derived process of up to several nanoseconds. It may be desirable to use the long-term stable Q state, which forms part of the branching reaction of the photocycle of the bacteriododoxin described above, when using the bacteriododoxin as a memory material. Using the ground state (bR) and the Q state, respectively, will provide a simple and straightforward implementation of a logic circuit that implements high spectral isolation and Boolean functions between the input light (recording light) and the probe light (reading light). One possible drawback is the relatively slow cycle rate between states, but with the possibility of addressing by strong parallelism, very high data rates can be achieved by implementing the optical logic device according to the invention.

Generation of Boolean Functions in Bacteriododocin function action AND Input independent preliminary step: Yellow light to rate M state Input A: Strong blue light (no light = 0) bleaching molecules for variable value 1 (M-> bR state) Input B: Sequential to input A: Weak blue light for variable value 1 (no light = 0)-result (measurement intensity of weak probe light during step B): If A = 1 and B = 1, then transmitted blue probe light is either weak light or zero, ie AB = 1A If = 0 or B = 0 or A, B = 0, the transmitted blue probe is weak or zero, i.e. AB = 0 OR Input A: weak blue light for variable value 1 (no light = 0) Input B: weak blue light for variable value 1 (no light = 0) Result: Measurement intensity of the weak blue probe transmitted in step B. If steps A and B are applied sequentially, use a detector to integrate photons. If A = 1, B = 1 or A, B = 1, the transmitted weak blue probe signal is detected, i.e. if A + B = 1A = B = 0, no signal ie A + B = 0 : B NOT Input A: Strong blue light for variable value 1 (no light = 0) Input B: Light blue light for variable value 1 (no light = 0) Result: Measurement intensity of the strong blue probe transmitted in step B. Transmittance Is low or zero if A = 0, i.e.: A = 0 and B = 1, If B = 1A = 1 and B = 0 or A = 1 and B = 1, B = 0

If the optical logic device according to the invention is implemented as an optical data processor, this means that it should be possible to implement an arithmetic register that performs a binary arithmetic operation. An example of a parallel algorithm for 4-bit full addition is shown in FIG. 19 and may be implemented by a logic gate with an electronic trapping material or a memory material based on bacteriododosin, for example. The binary half adder simply consists of an EXCLUSIVE-OR gate and an AND gate for carry by the same optical logic element by the same optical logic element for the sum. The carry of the least significant bits by half addition must be taken into account to make the full addition. Thus, a logic gate with three inputs is needed. This excludes the use of the optical logic element OLE according to the invention, since they have only two inputs for logic operation. An iterative parallel-flow algorithm can be used to solve this problem, for example a 4-bit addition that only requires 4 iterations is shown in FIG. The advantage of this algorithm is that a series of shift-logic operations can be performed repeatedly by the same optical logic element with two inputs, ie by an electron trapping material or bacteriodopsin having light at both wavelengths. Parallel logic operations EXCLUSIVE-OR and AND can be performed by optical logic elements. Alternatively, the shifted intermediate output signal can be fed back to the optical logic device through the addressing system and the detector to excite the optical logic element with light to the input wavelength. At any rate, the entire optical system is an electron capture material or a conformation-reactive material that can undergo photocycles such as bacteriododocin if the activator is a light-emitting, wavelength-adjustable polymer diode as described above. It can be implemented on the basis of the above principle by an optical logic element (OLE) with a memory material in the form of.

The above examples for the implementation of Boolean logic functions and arithmetic operations are naturally intended to be examples, and one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that all of the above operations can be implemented within the scope of the present invention and that all logical and arithmetic operations by binary logic It will be appreciated that the optical logic device according to the present invention consists of a structure for implementing an optical data processor with considerable power and speed. There is no reason why the optical logic device OLD according to the invention should not consist of a large computer with multiple processors that can be addressed and operated in a wide range of parallelism. If a processor is implemented as a systolic array processor and a network topology can be used that is dynamically optimal, then the use of a near-addressable optical logic element in accordance with the present invention is several times more performance and capacity than the conventional semiconductor-based technology. And optically based data technologies that appear to be feasible bring the advantages that are considered to be feasible.

Claims (41)

Under the influence of an applied magnetic field, an electromagnetic field or an electric field or supplied energy, the optical memory material 1 can convert from one physical state or chemical state to another physical state or chemical state, which is specific to the physical state or chemical state. The optical memory material 1 to which a logic value is assigned, The change in physical or chemical state causes the particular logic value to be altered and may be accessed magnetically, electromagnetically, electrically or optically to record, read, store, erase and switch the assigned logic value. In an optical logic element (OLE) implemented by addressing, in particular a multistate, multistable optical logic element, more particularly a near-addressable optical logic element, The optical memory material 1 is provided on or in the substantially layered structure, An activator 2 generating a magnetic field, an electromagnetic field or an electric field and supplying energy to the optical memory material 1 is provided substantially on or adjacent to the layered structure, An optical detector 3 for detecting the optical response of the optical memory material subject to the physical or chemical state of the optical memory material is provided substantially on or adjacent to the layered structure and thus the optical Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that it comprises an integrated component of a memory material (1), an activator (2) and the detector (3). The method of claim 1, The optical memory substance (1) is provided in the form of a first layer (l _1), the activator (2) a second layer (l ₂₎ or the first layer (l adjacent to the first layer (l _{1) 1} ) provided in an integrated form, the optical detector 3 detecting the state of the optical memory material 1 in the form of a third layer l ₃ adjacent to the first layer l ₁ And accordingly constitute an integrated component of at least three layers or two layers (l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ ; l ₁ , l ₃ ), respectively. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Under the influence of a magnetic field, an electromagnetic field or an electric field or the supplied energy, the optical memory material 1 can be changed from a first state to a second state and can be returned from the second state to the first state. Logical Element (OLE). The method according to claim 1 or 2, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that under the influence of a magnetic field, an electromagnetic field or an electric field or the supplied energy, the optical memory material 1 can be changed from one state to another which is permanently stable. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that the optical memory material (1) is an electron trapping material. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that the optical memory material (1) is a fluorescent material. The method according to claim 1 or 2, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that the optical memory material 1 is an adaptive-reactive material. The method of claim 2, Each layer (l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ ) comprises a basic material. The method of claim 8, And the base material is optically transparent. The method of claim 8, And the base material consists of one or more polymeric materials. The method of claim 10, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that at least one polymeric material is used for the second layer (l ₂ ) and the third layer (l ₃ ). The method of claim 1, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that at least one polymer material of the second layer (l ₂ ) and / or the third layer (l ₃ ) is an electrically conductive polymer material. The method of claim 8, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that the optical memory material (1) is provided in or embedded in the base material of the first layer (l ₁ ). The method of claim 8, The activator 2 is characterized in that it consists of one or more direct or indirect radiation-emitting means 2 ₁ ,..., 2 _n provided in or embedded in the base material of the second layer l ₂ . Optical logic element (OLE). The method of claim 14, Optical logic element OLE, characterized in that the radiation-emitting means 2 is electrically accessed and addressed. The method of claim 15, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that the radiation-emitting means (2) is a light-emitting diode. The method of claim 16, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that the light-emitting diode (2) is a polymer diode. The method of claim 15, Optical logic element OLE, characterized in that the radiation-emitting means 2 is a semiconductor laser. The method of claim 15, The radiation-emitting means 2 is frequency-adjustable, wherein the frequency adjustment is performed in connection with electrical addressing. The method of claim 14, One or more radiation-emitting means 2 are provided, The radiation-emitting means 2 ₁ ,..., 2 _n are each characterized in that they radiate at different preselected frequencies. The method of claim 14, The radiation-emitting means 2 is an indirect radiation-emitting means, The indirect radiation-emitting means 2 are indirectly arranged to be activated by an external radiation source 2 '. The method of claim 2, The optical memory material 1 is integrated with the activator 2 to form a common physical structure, with the result that the first layer l ₁ and the second layer l ₂ are combined to form a common layer l _c . Optical logic element (OLE). The method of claim 22, The optical logic element, characterized in that during energization the activator 2 is arranged to be destroyed, resulting in a memory material in a permanently stable state, or integrated with the memory material 1 in a permanently stable state as well. (OLE). The method of claim 2, An optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that the second layer (l ₂ ) and the third layer (l ₃ ) are provided on and opposite the layer of the first layer (l ₁ ). The method of claim 1, The optical detector 3 is characterized in that the optical detector 3 is an electrically accessible and addressable optical detector. The method of claim 15 or 25, Optical logic characterized in that electrodes 4,4 'and electrical conductors 5,5' are provided integrated in the _second and third layers l ₂ and l ₃ for electrical accessing and addressing. Element (OLE). The method of claim 26, Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that the electrodes (4, 4 ') and the electrical conductors (5, 5') are based on an electrically conductive polymer material. The method of claim 2, Another layer (l ₄ ) is provided adjacent to or within the first layer (l ₁ ) to generate an electric field, the generated electric field being in the time domain, the frequency domain or the intensity domain, respectively. Optical logic element (OLE), characterized in that it is used to influence the response of 1). The method of claim 28, Layer ( ₄ ) is an optical logic element (OLE) characterized in that it comprises at least one electrically conductive polymer material. A plurality of optical logic elements (OLEs), These optical logic elements (OLEs) are near-addressable optical logic elements comprising a multistate, multistable optical logic element, optical memory material (1), under the influence of an applied magnetic field, an electromagnetic field or an electric field or supplied energy, The optical memory material may convert from one physical state or chemical state to another physical state or chemical state, the physical state or chemical state is assigned a specific logical value, Changes in the physical or chemical state of the optical logic element cause the logic value to be altered and magnetically, electromagnetically, electrically or optically to record, read, store, erase and switch the assigned logic value. An optical logic device (OLD) for storing data or performing an arithmetic logic operation, implemented by the optical logic element accessed and addressed by: The optical memory material 1 is provided on or in the substantially layered structure, An activator 2 which generates a magnetic field, an electromagnetic field or an electric field and supplies energy to the optical memory material 1 is provided on or substantially adjacent to the layered structure, An optical detector 3 for detecting the optical response of the optical memory material subject to the physical or chemical state of the optical memory material is provided substantially on or adjacent to the layered structure and thus the optical The logic element OLE constitutes an integrated component of the optical memory material 1, the activator 2 and the detector 3, At least one structure (S) constituted by the optical logic element, The optical memory material (1), activator (2) and detector (3) of each of the optical logic elements (OLE) of the structure are combined and the optical memory of optical logic elements (OLEs) surrounded by the structure (S). Material, the activator and the detector, whereby the structure S forms a flat or curved surface shape, and each optical logic element OLEs of the structure S is connected with the optical memory material 1 There is an obvious assignment between the activator 2 and an obvious assignment between the optical detector 3 and the optical memory material 1 for an explicit detection of the physical or chemical state of the optical memory material and thus the structure S Optical logic device, characterized in that each of said optical logic elements OLE can be individually accessed and addressed. Scotland (OLD). The method of claim 30, The optical memory substance (1) in the optical logic element (OLE) is provided in the form of a first layer (l _1), the activator (2) a second layer (l ₂₎ adjacent to the first layer (l ₁₎ Or in an integrated form in the first layer l ₁ , the optical detector 3 detecting the state of the optical memory material 1 comprises a third layer l adjacent to the first layer l ₁ . ₃ ) the optical logic element OLE constitutes an integrated component consisting of at least three or two layers l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ ; l ₁ , l _3, respectively. Optical logic device (OLD). 32. The method of claim 30 or 31 wherein Optical logic device OLD, characterized in that each structure S is in the form of a flexible thin film. The method of claim 30, Two or more bonded structures (S ₁ ,..., S _x ) stacked on top of one another and forming chip-shaped or disk-shaped components integrated in a plurality of structures (S) in this manner. Optical logic device (OLD), characterized in that. The method of claim 33, wherein Optical logic device OLD, characterized in that an insulating layer l ₅ is provided between each stacked structure S ₁ , ..., S _x optically, thermally or electrically. The method of claim 30, Optical logic device (OLD), characterized in that at least two optical logic elements (OLEs) forming a connected group in structure (S) are assigned to an optical detector (3) covering all optical logic elements in the group. The method of claim 30, Each structure S comprises one or more layers with electrodes 4, 4 'and electrical conductors 5, 5' assigned to respective optical logic elements OLEs for accessing and addressing. Optical logic device (OLD). The method of claim 36, Layer (l ₆₎ are electrodes 4 and the electrical conductors to form a 5, a layer (l ₆₎ optical logic device (OLD), characterized in that which is achieved in whole or in part by one or more conductive polymer material integrated in the . The method of claim 30, The structure S is configured in whole or in part as an optical memory, wherein each optical logic element OLE of the memory constitutes a memory element that can be individually accessed and addressed ( OLD). The method of claim 30, The structure S is configured in part as an optical logic or arithmetic circuit, or a network of these circuits, each optical logic element OLE of the circuit being configured to constitute a switching circuit that can be individually accessed and addressed. Optical Logic Device (OLD). The method of claim 30, Each group of optical logic elements OLE of the structure S consists of memory registers, logical registers and arithmetic registers, and each optical logic element OLE and each register in the register is individually accessed and addressed. And in this way the registers can be configured together to form an optical data processor. The method of claim 30, Optical logic device (OLD), characterized in that the accessing and addressing of the optical logic element (OLE) is carried out via a multiplexed communication line assigned to the structure (S).