RU2172975C2 - Optical logic element and optical logic facility - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: optics. SUBSTANCE: proposed optical logic element includes optical material memory medium 1 that can transfer from one physical or chemical state to another physical or chemical state. Material memory storage 1 can be presented in or on stratified structure. Activator 2 generates magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field or applies energy to material memory medium 1. Optical detector for detection of optical response of material memory medium caused by physical or chemical state of material memory medium is presented in or close to substantially stratified structure. Thus optical logic element makes up one integrated unit. Optical logic facility incorporates at least one structure S composed of optical logic elements. EFFECT: simplified design and high transfer rate. 31 cl, 27 dwg, 4 tbl

Description

 The invention relates to an optical logic element, specifically an optical logic element having several stable states, and even more specifically directly addressable optical logic element, including an optical material storage medium, in which, under the influence of an applied magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field or energy supplied, a material medium memory can go from one physical or chemical state to a second physical or chemical state e, where a specific logical value is assigned to a physical or chemical state and where a change in the physical or chemical state of a logical element causes a change in a logical value and is performed by reversing and addressing the logical element magnetically, electromagnetically, electrically or optically to write, read, save, erase and switching the assigned logical value. The invention also relates to an optical logic device, especially for storing data or performing logical and arithmetic operations, where the device includes many optical logic elements, especially in which optical logic elements are optical logic elements having several stable states, and even more especially directly addressed optical logical elements, including an optical material storage medium, in which, under the influence of applied magnesium In the case of a certain electromagnetic, electric, or electric field or energy supplied, a material storage medium can transfer from one physical or chemical state to a second physical or chemical state, where a certain logical value is assigned to a physical or chemical state and where a change in the physical or chemical state of a logical element causes a change in logical value and is produced by reversing and addressing the logical element magnetically, electromagnetically, electrically or optically for writing, reading, saving, erasing and switching the assigned logical value.

 In general, the invention relates to a new class of optoelectronic devices that can store information and / or perform logical functions through an optical material storage medium that is contained in individually addressable cells or elements. Each element is an independent unit and can be combined with similar elements to form large aggregates, usually in the form of flat sheets or layers. From the latter, tertiary structures can be formed, for example, by stacking them in order to form optical data memory blocks and optical logic devices with a high efficiency to volume ratio.

 Modern digital optical data storage technologies have been developed in response to the ever-expanding needs for data storage capacities in a compact format, and they have been highly successfully used in solutions that combine high surface density data with interchangeability and / or portability.

 The decisive step was the use of small, efficient semiconductor lasers emitting coherent light, which can be focused almost on an area close to the diffraction limit, thus providing, respectively, high definition and compact distribution of information bits in a medium carrying data. In real systems, cost and spatial limitations have logically led to a project in which a laser beam scans the surface of a rotating disk, taking a consistent stream of bits, following an optical guide track under servo control.

 Systems based on this universal project have now been upgraded to a layer where the data density is close to the theoretical limit, and further enhancements, in order to satisfy future requests, cannot be accomplished with successive enhancements, as in the past.

 One obvious limitation is the use of a two-dimensional data storage format. Even though the surface density of the data is high, the physical positions of the bits are limited to a flat surface on a rigid, self-supporting surface of high mechanical quality, which leads to a relatively unimpressive bulk density of the data. Recently published technical solutions in which data is stored in several planes at various depths below the surface of the disk. Distinction between different layers is possible due to the very shallow depth of the region corresponding to the exact focus, and this principle is expected to be developed to cover up to ten planes or layers (see, for example, EK (signature), "Stacking the decks for optical data storage ". Optics and Photonics News, August 1994, p. 39). It turns out, however, that the benefits of using many layers or levels are partially offset by cost problems, as well as the technical trade-offs between the number of layers on the one hand and the achievable surface density of the data in each layer on the other. Even when executed in accordance with the requirements set forth below, such technological solutions lack the potential for sustainable long-term development and improvement.

 In many cases, restrictions on access time and data transfer rates represent a much more serious drawback for rotating disk systems than the aforementioned restrictions on data density and capacity.

 In applications where the files on the disk must be accessed quickly in random order, the servo motor focusing the laser must quickly move the optical node radially from one position on the disk to another. In the correct radial position, movement along the track should continue quickly, which includes alignment in two dimensions, speed control, setting synchronization and finding and identifying the file header. These electromechanical procedures include access times that are long, typically 200 ms or more. Efforts have been made to reduce access time, for example, increasing the speed of the disk, in order to reduce the time taken for rotational alignment, and to reduce the weight of the nodes controlled by the servo motor for focusing and moving along the track. Improvement in one area, however, leads to deterioration in another. An increase in rotational speed aggravates the so-called “beam saw" effect, that is, the fast acceleration and deceleration of the rotation speed, which is required in order to maintain a constant speed of scanning the beam along the surface of the disk when alternating between tracks at different radii. This is the dominant cause of the latency in optical disc-based data retrieval systems. Attempts to eliminate this effect by maintaining a constant rotation speed regardless of the radial position lead to a decrease in the surface density of the data or to an increase in technical complexity.

 It is not surprising that such precise electromechanical optical systems will be slow in time scales that are typical in a purely electronic field (microseconds or less), which thus prevents the use of optical disk devices as memory blocks with direct quick access in a wide range of areas Applications, including direct random access memory (DRAM) blocks for computers, etc. Significant efforts were made to eliminate the Achilles heel of such devices, namely the need for focusing and moving along the track without mechanical inertia. The solution options that have been investigated include optoelectronic deflectors, waveguides, and diffractive optical elements. So far, no technically and materially viable system of this nature has been demonstrated in practice and does not seem to appear in the distant future. In addition, the latency problem associated with disk rotation is not solved by such methods.

 In rotating disk systems, bits of information are read sequentially as the laser beam scans along the track, and the data transfer speed clearly depends on the speed of rotation and the linear density of the data along the track. In a number of applications, such as interactive multimedia, transmission speed is an essential critical parameter of modern optical disk systems. With nearly optimal coding and focusing of data typical of current advances in disk technology, it seems that there are few options available to increase data transfer rates. One possibility is to increase the rotation speed. This has been brought up in individual commercial systems to the point at which cost and power consumption have now led to rapidly decreasing revenue from a further increase in speed. Another strategy is to use separate laser beams addressing separate but parallel tracks on the disc. Although the number of parallel tracks is increasing, complexity and cost are growing very fast, and such schemes seem best designed to provide speed improvements that are far from enough for future design needs.

 The aforementioned shortcomings were clearly recognized for a long time, and other schemes, most significantly page-oriented memory and logical systems based on holographic technology were proposed and experimentally investigated. In addition to the prospective bulk storage of high-density data in three dimensions, holographic systems can be addressed page by page, thereby offering advantages that are inherent in parallelism, such as high bit rate. Fast random access to data through an inertia-free optoelectronic device is under investigation. In addition, logical operations such as high-speed parallel processing for object recognition were investigated. It was predicted that holographic memory blocks could be erased and rewritten repeatedly, the amount of data from gigabytes to terabytes could be stored in a volume comparable to a sugar cube, giving random access times ranging from micro- to nanoseconds and data transfer rates up to hundreds of MB / s (see, for example, D. Psaltis and F. Mok, "Holographic memories". Scientific American, November 1995, pp. 52-58). Similar potential efficacy has been mentioned for other systems based on confocal and multilaser (non-linear) addressing principles (see, for example, “The optical sugar cube”, Photonics Spectra, September 1994, p. 50).

 Another example of a page-based optical storage system that may be mentioned is the international patent application N W096 / 21228 (Birge), entitled "Branched photocycle optical memory device", which opens up a bulk optical memory that stores high density information in in three dimensions, selectively activating a photochemical branching reaction from a temporary thermal intermediate state in the primary photocycle in a light-sensitive, protein-based, storage medium. In this case, a so-called “flipping” laser is used to activate a flat layer or page of the data storage medium at one wavelength, and data lasers that transmit selected data rays at another wavelength that are orthogonal to the selected layer or page. However, this technology is not easy to implement in practical storage devices, and it has some significant weaknesses. In order to obtain a high bulk density of data, the scrolling light must be extremely intense and uniform within a very narrow spatial range with a sharp limit of intensity. This entails the use of a laser beam and relatively sophisticated optics in order to form a beam. Secondly, a very precisely controlled lighting sequence is required, including the use of three independent wavelengths. Optimal temporal sequence control is temperature dependent. Thirdly, the write and read speeds are limited by the photocyclic time constants, which leads to access times in the millisecond range. Fourth, reading the stored data will reduce its contrast on the optical memory medium, which, therefore, requires updating after a certain amount, for example, 1000 read operations.

 In Swedish patent N 501106 (Toth), entitled "Optical memory", an optical memory of the type "write once, read many times", (type WORM, Write-Once-Read-Many-Times), which contains a storage element with stable optical states. The storage element is divided into a number of memory positions, the optical state in a given memory position being able to be both changed and read by a beam of light directed towards the memory position. The memory can be fully implemented without moving mechanical parts and has a very short addressing time, allowing you to create memory of particularly high capacity. This memory also allows parallel writing and reading of multi-bit words. The actual memory environment can be represented by separate layers or levels. The light beam then focuses on a given memory position, and when using eight layers, it becomes possible to store one byte in each memory position or x, y position. In a project with 7x7 memory cells, each 1 cm long, 9.8 GB can be stored on eight layers, and the recording speed will then be 40 MB / s. Reading is performed in the absorption mode, which means that individual levels must have fixed different thicknesses in order to make it possible to distinguish between individual layers in a code sequence. This, however, leads to a decrease in bulk storage density, as the number of layers increases, and the need to focus the light beam on the memory position, as well as maneuvering the light beam in x, y directions, entail cost and technical complications.

 Even though the technical solutions proposed so far may seem impressive, in future commercial conditions such efficiency should be evaluated in terms of hardware cost, system complexity and the complete form factor of the device. Based on the current current state, as shown in open literature, it seems that the conclusion is correct that holographic and other page-oriented systems or multilayer systems will not lead to a revolution in the foreseeable future in trade, where the requirement of compactness and low price is paramount location. Even if components and materials become available at an affordable price, the architectures actually proposed seem to hamper truly compact solutions.

 The object of the presented invention is therefore to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the previous methods and proposed solutions and provide an optical logic element that can be used in order to realize optical memory blocks, optical logical and arithmetic circuits, optical switches, and, in addition, in general to perform optical data processing equipment with low cost and technical complexity, but with extremely high storage density, short access time dumb and very high speed transfer.

 Another objective of the invention is to obtain an optical logic element and an optical logic device based on an optical logic element, where the optical logic element and the optical logic device are structurally and functionally integrated node, and the essential functions of the element and device are all basically implemented in the element or device, including functions such as access, addressing, activation, switching and detection.

 Another objective of the present invention is to provide the implementation of bulk data storage in a simple way so that the memory capacity mainly depends only on the form factor and becomes inversely proportional to the physical dimensions of the logical element.

 The above and other objectives are achieved by using an optical logic element, the distinguishing feature of which is that a material storage medium is provided in or on a substantially layered structure, that an activator that generates a magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field or applies energy to the material storage medium is provided in or next to a substantially layered structure, and that an optical detector for detecting an optical response of a material storage medium is caused by Nogo physical or chemical state material memory medium is provided in or adjacent to the substantially layered structure, the optical logic element thus constitutes an integrated unit consisting of the carrier material memory, the activator and the detector; along with an optical logic device, the distinguishing feature of which is that the material storage medium is provided in or on a substantially layered structure, that the activator that generates a magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field or applies energy to the material storage medium is provided next to the substantially layered structure, and that an optical detector for detecting the optical response of a material storage medium due to the physical or chemical state of the mat rial storage medium is provided in or near a substantially layered structure, the optical logic element thus constituting an integrated unit consisting of a material storage medium, activator and detector, that the device includes at least one structure formed by optical logic elements, which the optical material storage medium, activator and detector in each logical element in the structure are combined and connected with the material storage medium, activator and detector in the surrounding logical elements of the structure, the structure thus forming a body with a flat or curved surface, and each logical element in the structure has a unique correspondence between a material storage medium and an activator and a correspondence between a material storage medium and an optical detector for unambiguous detection of a physical or chemical state in material storage medium, thus making it possible to access and address each optical logic element each optical logical element in the structure is individual.

 In a preferred embodiment of the optical logic element, the material storage medium is provided in the form of a first layer, the activator is provided in the form of a second layer adjacent to the first layer, or provided integrated in the first layer, and an optical detector that detects a state in the material storage medium is provided in the form of a third a layer adjacent to the first layer, the optical logic element thus forming an integrated node consisting of at least three or two loys respectively.

 In addition, it is preferable that the activator was composed of one or more directly or indirectly emitting devices, and the emitting device is provided on or embedded in the base material of the second layer. It is useful that the device emitting radiation is addressed and addressed electrically. It is also useful that the radiation emitting device is a light emitting diode, preferably a polymer diode.

 In addition, it is also preferable that the emitting device is frequency adjustable, the frequency being adjusted in conjunction with electrical addressing. In addition, it is preferable that the optical detector is an optical detector with electrical circulation and addressing, and that for electrical circulation and addressing of both the activator and the detector, the electrodes and electrical conductors are provided integrated in the second and third layer. For this purpose, it is preferable that the electrodes and electrical conductors be based on an electrically conductive polymer material.

 In a preferred embodiment of the optical logic device, a material storage medium in each logic element in the form of a first layer, an activator is provided in the form of a second layer adjacent to the first layer or provided integrated in the first layer, and an optical detector that detects a state in the material of the storage medium is provided in the form of a third layer adjacent to the first layer, and the optical logic element thus forms an integrated node, consisting of at least at least three or two layers, respectively, and each of the layers is combined and connected with the corresponding layer in the surrounding logical elements of the structure, thus forming a body with a flat or curved surface from connected and mutually adjacent corresponding layers.

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

 In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the optical logic device includes two or more connected structures stacked on top of each other, the optical logic device thus forming a chip or disk-like assembly integrated from a plurality of structures.

 In an embodiment of the optical logic device in accordance with the invention, the structure is preferably configured in whole or in part as an optical memory, each optical logic element in the memory constituting a memory element that can be accessed and addressed individually. In the second embodiment of the optical logic device in accordance with the invention, the structure is preferably partially configured as optical logical or arithmetic circuits or networks of such circuits, each of the optical logic elements in the circuits constituting a switching element that can be accessed and addressed individually. In the third embodiment of the optical logic device in accordance with the invention, the groups of optical logic elements in the structure are configured as memory registers, logical registers and arithmetic registers, respectively, with each optical logic element (OLE) in the register and each register being able to be accessed and addressed it individually, and in such a way that the registers can be jointly configured as an optical data processor. Finally, it is preferable that in the optical logic device a reversal of and. Addressing of logical elements was performed through multiplex communication lines allocated for the structure.

 Other features and advantages of the present invention are presented below in the claims.

 The invention will now be explained in more detail by way of embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1a shows an optical logic element in accordance with the present invention,
FIG. 1b and 1c demonstrate the operation of an optical logic element as a two-valued logic element,
FIG. 1d shows a field effect transistor for comparison purposes,
FIG. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of an optical logic element,
FIG. 3 shows a second preferred embodiment of an optical logic element.

FIG. 4 shows the principle of operation of a material storage medium in the form of a material capturing electrons,
FIG. 5a-d shows the principle of operation of a material carrier in the form of a light-sensitive conformationally reactive material, in this case bacteriorhodopsin,
FIG. 6, 7 show further preferred embodiments of the optical logic element in FIG. 1,
FIG. 8 shows a particularly preferred embodiment of the optical logic element in FIG. 1,
FIG. 9 shows the spectral properties of light emitting polymer diodes,
FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of a light emitting polymer diode,
FIG. 11 shows a first design of an optical logic device in accordance with the invention,
FIG. 12 shows a second design of an optical logic device in accordance with the invention,
FIG. 13 shows an embodiment of the optical logic device of FIG. eleven,
FIG. 14 shows a second embodiment of the optical logic device of FIG. eleven,
FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of a disassembled optical logic device design in FIG. 14,
FIG. 16 shows a development of a design of an optical logic device in accordance with the invention, based on the embodiment of FIG. 14,
FIG. 17 is a schematic illustration of an addressing scheme of an optical logic device in accordance with the invention,
FIG. 18 shows sixteen Boolean functions of two binary variables generated by an optical logic device in accordance with the invention, and
FIG. 19 is a schematic illustration of a parallel algorithm for four-bit binary complete addition for implementation on an optical logic device in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 1a is a schematic drawing of a preferred embodiment of an optical logic element in accordance with the present invention. The material storage medium 1 is represented in the first layer L ₁ , the activator 2, which can generate a magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field or supply energy to the material storage medium 1, is provided in the layer L ₂ on one side of the layer L ₁ , while the detector 3 is provided in the layer L ₃ on the opposite side of the layer L ₁ . Layers L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ can completely include the material storage medium 1, activator 2 and detector 3, respectively, but it can also be assumed that the layers L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ can be formed from the main material and that the material storage medium 1, activator 2 and detector 3, respectively, are built into it or provided on it.

FIG. 1b symbolically represents the operation of the optical logic element OLE according to the invention during recording, reading and detection of the logical state 0. In this case, energy is applied to the material storage medium 1 in the form of light of the first wavelength α ₁ , while reading is performed by absorption of light second wavelength α ₂ . Detected light, which indicates a logical state of 0, is indicated by a shorter photon symbol in order to indicate a decrease in intensity due to absorption. FIG. 1c is a similar schematic illustration of the operation mode of the optical logic element OLE during the detection of logical state 1, that is, when no absorption occurs in the material storage medium 1 in the layer L ₁ . FIG. 1d is a schematic drawing of an n-channel high-power transistor in order to indicate an analogy between the optical logic element in accordance with the present invention and the electronic switching device. The absorption of read light for logical states 0 and 1 corresponds to the drain voltage of the field effect transistor Vd.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment in which one or more directly or indirectly emitting radiation devices 2 ₁ , ..., 2 _n , which are represented in layer L ₂ , are included in the activator ₂ . In FIG. 2 radiation-emitting devices 2 ₁ , ... are provided embedded in the material of layer L ₂ , but they could also be provided on layer L ₂ . In a preferred embodiment, the layers L ₁ and L ₂ can be combined to form a common layer L _c . This level will then include both the material storage medium 1 and the activator 2 with radiation-emitting devices 2 ₁ , .... This option can be useful if the activator is destroyed during writing to the OLE logical element, and this can be important if it should form part of a ROM or WORM type memory device and therefore is not intended to be erased and / or rewritten.

 The optical material storage medium 1 must be light sensitive and able to exist in two or more different physical states, as indicated in FIG. 1b and 1s. It should be possible to determine these material states through the response of states to incident probe light or reading light. The logical state can be determined by exciting the activator differently, for example, in accordance with a specific reading protocol, whereby the material storage medium 1 responds to incident light by optical transmission or light emission depending on the logical state.

 The main properties of the optical logic element OLE clearly depend on the characteristics of the recording / reading of the material storage medium. Changes in the physical storage medium during the recording process may be irreversible, which leads to an optical logic element that implements the memory functions of types ROM and WORM. However, the description below will focus on material storage media that retain information when the power is turned off, but are reversible, that is, they remain in the generated logical state until they are affected by recording, reading or erasing light. They can, however, be erased, destroyed and overwritten many times by exposure to light. Another important characteristic of a material storage medium is whether it can contain multilevel information, that is, information that is encoded on a gray scale, or whether it responds to a binary reading protocol, that is, either a logical state of 0 or 1.

 Even though the material storage medium 1, as described above, is transferred from one physical / chemical state to another under the influence of light, this does not exclude the use of other forms of energy in accordance with the invention in order to influence the state of the material storage medium. Magnetism, electromagnetism or electron fields or the application of energy in the form of heat can be used. This may be appropriate if it is necessary to carry out dark reactions at the process stages between logical states in a material storage medium, for example, using high temperature to erase information or to generate conditions due to which incident light has an effect, for example, applying an electric field to shift the strip absorption, if the material storage medium is a light-sensitive material that absorbs at certain wavelengths.

 From the circumstances described above, it becomes apparent that the optical logic element in accordance with the invention receives the basic properties from a material storage medium. Two types of material storage media will now be described, both of which are reversible, that is, they can go through their logical states more than once, using suitable protocols for writing, reading and erasing.

 Electron-capture materials are typically organic semiconductor materials that are doped with rare-earth ions. Electron capture materials can be used to store high density data and provide high data transfer and recovery rates. Reference may be made to an article by J. Lindmayer, "A new erasable optical memory". Solid State Technology, August 1988.

 A general illustration of the mode of operation of electron-capture materials is shown in FIG. 4. Recording is performed using capture taking place at the energy levels E and T. When the recording light excites atoms of two rare-earth metals used as dopants, their electrons transfer to the energy level E, which exists in both types of atoms, and subsequently are captured at the level T, which exists in only one of the atoms. The influence of light in the near infrared region of the spectrum on the T level transfers electrons to the binding energy zone, from which they transfer to the ground state, which leads to data erasure.

 Electron capture materials may have a crystalline lattice of the basic substance in the form of alkaline earth sulfides, such as CaS, SrS, MgS, or mixtures thereof. When the rare-earth elements europium and samarium are used as doping impurities, the material storage medium absorbs incoming light at 450-550 nm, due to which europium ions absorb the photon energy and transfer part of it to samarium ions. The latter are thus excited to capture states, so called because these states are stable, that is, samarium ions will be stable for a very long period, until they are released from capture by absorption of the corresponding energy quanta. The latter will take place when the material storage medium is irradiated with light with a wavelength of 850-1200 nm, thus stimulating samarium ions in the capture state, and the released electrons emit light with a wavelength of 600-700 nm after returning to the ground state. Thus, in this case, recording is performed by irradiation with light with a wavelength of 450-550 nm, while reading is performed by irradiation with light with a wavelength of 850-1200 nm with simultaneous detection of fluorescence at wavelengths of 600-700 nm.

 Instead of electron-trapping material, a material storage medium could be a conformational-reactive material, especially a light-sensitive conformational-reactive material that can pass through a photocycle. Examples of such materials are some types of colored proteins. A protein of this species, which has been relatively well studied, is bacteriorhodopsin, which is found in the membrane of the microorganism Halobacterium sallnarium. For a more detailed discussion of the properties of bacteriorhodopsin from the point of view of optical data storage, reference should be made to Norwegian patent application N 972574, from which the present application inherits the priority date and which is transmitted to the present applicant.

 When bacteriorhodopsin absorbs light, it passes through a photocycle that generates intermediate states with absorption maxima in the entire visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is illustrated schematically in FIG. 1a, which represents a bacteriorhodopsin photocycle and indicates the sequence of structural changes that are caused by light. Light-induced or excitation transitions are indicated by shaded arrows, while unshaded arrows indicate transitions due to thermal relaxation. Green light converts the ground state of bacteriorhodopsin bR to an intermediate state K, which subsequently relaxes, forming state M and then state O. The lifetime of state M depends, among other things, both on temperature and on the bacteriorhodopsin mutant used. If bacteriorhodopsin in state O is exposed to red light, a so-called branching reaction occurs. State O transfers to state P, which quickly relaxes into state Q, a form of bacteriorhodopsin, which, as shown, is stable for a very long period. In various bacteriorhodopsin mutants, which include aspartic acid residues 85 and 96, the Q state can last for several years. If aspartic acid 85 is replaced by a non-polar amino acid, such as asparagine, then the formation of a stable state M is impossible and the primary photocycle very quickly forms an O state (or an intermediate state very close to O state) (RR Birge, Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem., 41, pp. 683-733 (1990)). If, however, the bacteriorhodopsin is illuminated in state Q with blue light, it will return to the ground state bR. If state O is not illuminated by red light, in a short time it relaxes back to the ground state bR. Binary logic values 0 or 1 can now be assigned to any two states with a long lifetime, thus allowing information to be stored in the bacteriorhodopsin molecules that are in one or the other of these states.

FIG. 5b is a diagram of a primary bacteriorhodopsin photocycle. The basic photochemical transformations that are essential for use in the optical logic element in accordance with the present invention are generally indicated in the diagram sequentially, in the clockwise direction of the diagram. bR denotes the ground state of bacteriorhodopsin, and capital letters indicate different states in the photocycle. The numbers in parentheses indicate the average wavelengths of the absorption bands for different states or varieties of bacteriorhodopsin in nanometers. The transitions that are produced by photo-induced excitation are indicated by hv and, if possible, the time constants τ _v , while the transitions that occur due to thermal reactions are indicated by the time constants τ _p for the first-order relaxation time at approximately room temperature.

 Illumination of the bacteriorhodopsin molecules in the ground or quiescent state of bR with light with a wavelength of about 570 nm produces an excited state K, which has a very short lifetime. As you can see, the K state has an absorption band centered at 600 nm, which means that if the effective bandwidth extends to more than 600 nm when excited from the bR state, the molecules in the K state will return to the ground state of bR. It is assumed, however, that this transition has a low quantum yield, and since the state K is unstable and very quickly transfers to state L, most of the molecules in state K will be forced to participate in the photocycle, even though some molecules will return back to the ground state bR. The intermediate state M, which has an absorption band centered at 410 nm, will thermally relax to the intermediate state N during a short period of about 1-3 ms, which in turn thermally relaxes to the intermediate state O. It has been established that in various cases bacteriorhodopsin state M can have a relatively long lifetime, up to several minutes and, therefore, could possibly be used to represent one of the logical states O or 1, if archival storage for hours Hb long periods is not essential. At this point, it can be mentioned that the state M actually consists of two states M1 and M2, which have essentially identical absorption spectra. In addition, during previous attempts at holographic storage of data in bacteriorhodopsin through state M, gradual loss of sensitivity and contrast were observed, which, as was subsequently proved, were caused by a decrease in the number of active molecules during the branching reaction, due to their transition to state P and Q (RR Birge, private communication, 1996). On the diagram you can see that the state M returns to the ground state when it is illuminated with light with a wavelength near the average absorption wavelength of the state M 410 nm. Light with a wavelength near the average absorption wavelength of the ground state bR, i.e., 570 nm, however, of course, will not force transitions from state M back to state bR. State O has an average absorption wavelength of 640 nm, and therefore, if it is illuminated with light with an effective bandwidth centered at this wavelength, thus causing a branching reaction in the photocycle, it will transition to the intermediate state P, which has a relatively long time life, up to a few minutes. State P will thermally relax to the most stable of the intermediate states of the photocycle, that is, to state Q, which has a lifetime that probably reaches several years. State Q can therefore be used to represent logical states that must be maintained over the years. Therefore, in addition to the stable ground state bR, state Q is the state that is best suited for bacteriorhodopsin to be a storage medium in those cases in which the optical logic element in accordance with the invention should be used in an optical data storage device that is suitable for archive storage.

 If the Q state is illuminated with blue light with an effective bandwidth centered on the average absorption wavelength of the Q state of 380 nm, the Q state passes to the ground state bR, while the indication of the time "> 1 year" indicates that the Q state will also be thermal relax to the ground state bR, but with a time constant, which in this case is measured over many years. By absorbing light with an effective bandwidth centered around the average absorption frequency of the state P 490 nm, state P can return to state O. In addition, in a normal photocycle, state O thermally relaxes back to the ground state bR with a time constant of approximately 4 ms at room temperature.

 For further visualization of the bacteriorhodopsin photocycle, it is illustrated graphically in FIG. 5s The outer circle represents the clock cycle of the photocycle, from one state bR and then through intermediate states K, L, M, N and O back to the ground state bR. The branching reaction of the photocycle is represented by an internal circular arc with the state P and Q, which are reached from state O. Meta-stable states with a relatively long lifetime, that is, M, P and Q, appear to be shaded. The circle sector represents a part of the photocycle that includes the Q and bR states, which for the purposes of the invention should be considered stable. Photoinduced transitions in the photocycle that are relevant to the present invention are indicated by numbered arrows. In the diagram, in addition, very short-term intermediate states that are not relevant to the invention are omitted. The same is used when the intermediate state is actually composed of separate states with approximately identical absorption spectra.

The absorption spectra of various varieties or conditions of bacteriorhodopsin are illustrated in FIG. 5d, which also indicates suitable effective range widths for
illumination of varieties in order to produce excitation in a different state. It can be noted, for example, that using an effective bandwidth centered around 600 nm will affect the N, bR, K, and O states, but the consequence of this illumination will be that at least a significant number of molecules will be forced to transition from bR to a relatively stable state Q. Of course, it is possible to achieve the same result by illuminating the ground state bR continuously with a light pulse centered at 570 nm, thus forcing the state bR to go to state O, while at the same time also By illuminating bacterioriorhodopsin with light centered at 640 nm, it is possible after an interval of several milliseconds, thus forcing state O to transition to state P. Applications of this method will be discussed in more detail in the next section. From FIG. 5d, it can also be seen that it is possible to actually excite the Q state to the ground state bR by illuminating the molecules in the Q state with light of about 380 nm or, for example, with an effective bandwidth of 360-400 nm.

 The material storage medium 1 may also be fluorescent, that is, when excited by the activator 2, the material storage medium 1 emits a fluorescent light that is detected by the detector 3. In other words, the detection occurs upon emission. The use of fluorescent substances for storing data is known to those skilled in the art, in addition to being demonstrated in the patent literature, and therefore any further description will be redundant.

 Various preferred embodiments of the optical logic element in accordance with the invention will now be discussed in more detail.

FIG. 6 illustrates an optical logic element OLE equipped with 4.4 'electrodes or 5.5' electrical conductors for electrical circulation and addressing of activator 2 and optical detector 3, respectively. For this purpose, 4.4 'electrodes or 5.5' electrical conductors are provided integrated in the second and third layers L ₂ , L _3, respectively. Both the 4.4 'electrodes and the 5.5' electrical conductors may preferably be based on an electrically conductive polymer material. If the electrical conductors 5.5 'are arranged in a mutually orthogonal position on each side of the layers L ₁ , L _3, respectively, it becomes possible to realize the electrodes 4.4' as the intersection points of the corresponding orthogonally placed electrical conductors 5.5 '. In addition, it is possible to provide another layer adjacent to or integrated into the first layer L ₁ , as shown in FIG. 7, to generate an electric field. This can be achieved if the layer L ₄ is made of ferroelectric, optoelectric or similar materials, and the generated electric field is then used to influence the response of the optical material storage medium 1 in a time interval, frequency interval or tension interval. As an example of this, reference can be made to the aforementioned Swedish patent N 501106, where a photoconductive level with optically resistive properties is provided between the material storage medium and the electrode array respectively on one side of the material storage medium. This allows, for example, to selectively apply an electric field to the optical logic element, if the activator is a radiation-emitting device, by simultaneously applying an electrical control voltage between the layer L ₁ and the electrode 4.

The radiation emitting device 2 may also be a semiconductor laser, in the form of, for example, a diode laser in the layer L ₂ between the electrodes 4,4 '. Many radiation emitting devices 2 ₁ , can be provided. . . , 2 _n , as shown in FIG. 2, and in this case, they can be placed so as to emit at various pre-selected frequencies, for example, using diode lasers with certain radiation characteristics.

The radiation emitting device 2 can also be mediated by the radiation emitting device, in which case it should be capable of being activated by an external radiation source 2 ', which is not shown in more detail. An external source of radiation of this kind must be provided outside the optical logic element of the OLE, and if the optical logic elements are combined to form a two-dimensional matrix constituting the optical logic device of the OLU, this can be done by placing the radiation source on the edge of the matrix and outside it, and in this case, layer Л ₁ must be able to act as a waveguide that conducts light through the transparent material of layer L ₁ to an indirectly emitting device. Such a layer-shaped optical waveguide L ₂ can be implemented by analogy with strip asymmetric transmission lines or fiber optic waveguides and, therefore, will not be further discussed here.

The desire to provide a directly addressable logic device based on directly addressable logic elements, however, makes it generally preferred to use the directly emitting device 2 provided in layer L ₂ .

 In this case, the radiation emitting device 2 may be a light emitting diode, and organic light emitting diodes based on conjugated polymers are particularly preferred for this purpose. Such light emitting polymer diodes are described in international patent application N W0 95/31515, entitled "Color source and method for its fabrication", to which the present applicant has acquired rights and which is hereby incorporated by reference. Light emitting polymer diodes of this type can emit light at several wavelengths by changing the operating voltage of the diode. Diodes can emit light at different wavelengths, for example, mainly red at a low operating voltage and blue at a higher operating voltage, while at intermediate voltages, a stop of emission of both red and blue can be obtained when the intensities change. Diodes can be made in the form of a thin polymer film with regions of conjugated polymers with a thickness of several tens of nanometers, and the size of individual diodes is not much larger. Integrated as an emitting device into an optical logic element, therefore, they will be compatible with optical logic elements of an OLE of a similar size.

FIG. 8 illustrates an optical logic element in accordance with the invention, implemented as a directly addressable optical logic element. The material storage medium 1, which in this case, for example, can be a conformationally responsive, light-sensitive material, such as bacteriorhodopsin, forms the level L ₁ .

In the vicinity of the light-sensitive material 1 or structure L ₁ , emitters or light sources 2, preferably in the form of light emitting polymer diodes, are provided in layer L ₂ . The light emitting polymer diode 2 is supplied with an operating voltage V _E using two electrodes 4.4 ', which are connected to the power source 6. The light emitting polymer diode 2 is provided adjacent to the light-sensitive material 1, that is, bacteriorhodopsin, which must pass through the photocycle. This means that the electrode 4 'must be transparent. In addition, the light emitting diode 2, which serves to start the bacteriorhodopsin 1 photocycle, must provide wavelength-adjustable radiation, which implies that in this case it would be appropriate to produce a light-emitting diode in the form of voltage-regulated polymer diodes, for example, such as described in the aforementioned international patent application W095 / 31515, in connection with which this is discussed in more detail. Opposite the light emitting polymer diode 2 and also adjacent to the bacteriorhodopsin layer L ₁ , a photovoltaic or photoconductive detector 3 is also provided, also in the form of a layer L ₃ , which is also equipped with 4.4 'electrodes that transmit the signal voltage V _D generated by the detector when light is detected to the operational amplifier 7. Obviously, in this case, the electrode of the detector 4, which is facing the layer of bacteriorhodopsin K ₁ , must also be transparent.

As mentioned, voltage-tunable color light sources in the form of light emitting polymer diodes have already been discussed with reference to the aforementioned international patent application W095 / 31515 and are further described in more detail by M. Bergen & al. Nature 372, pp. 444-446 (1994). By varying the operating voltage V _E applied by means of electrodes, such light emitting polymer diodes can be made to emit light at different wavelengths. Drawings illustrating light emitting polymer diodes of this kind are relatively common, and the spectral characteristic of the emitted light beam can be controlled over a wide range by appropriate selection of light emitting materials. Regarding the presented description, where spectral adaptation to the light-absorbing properties of bacteriorhodopsin in different states is required, it should be assumed that the light-emitting polymer diode emits yellow light at a low voltage V _E , and blue light emission increases with increasing voltage. This is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 9a-c, where FIG. 9a illustrates the spectral response and intensity of the applied voltage V _E 5 V. Radiation occurs mainly in the form of red light with a peak at about 630 nm. In this case, the efficiency is 100%. In FIG. 9b, the voltage increases to 16 V, and the efficiency decreases to 50%. It can be noted that the light emitting polymer diode still maintains a radiation peak at about 630 nm, but at the same time has an increasing blue light emission at about 400 nm. At an applied voltage of 21 V with an efficiency of 20%, the emission at wavelengths of approximately 530 nm is relatively reduced, and basically a peak of emission of blue light of high intensity and centered at approximately 430 nm is obtained, as shown in FIG. 9s A voltage-controlled emitter, i.e., a light emitting polymer diode, as described in the aforementioned international patent application W095 / 31515, contains a series of physically separated light emitting regions 9.9 ', as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 10, which can be regarded as a schematic section through the emitter layer 1 ₂ . The 9.9 'regions are included in the transparent material 8, which may, for example, be a polymer itself, and each 9.9' region contains only one type of light emitting polymer, that is, either with a narrow forbidden zone that emits mainly yellow or red light (e.g. 9) or with a wide forbidden zone that emits blue light (e.g. 9 '). If the 9.9 'regions were large and placed at a relatively large distance from each other, this could cause problems due to the unpredictable and uneven emission of light from the light emitting diode, and in the case of some optical beam configurations would give insufficient spatial the overlap between red and blue light, which reaches a given central point in the structure of bacteriorhodopsin. Experiments taken from the aforementioned application W095 / 31515 show that it is now at least possible to achieve typical sizes and distances between regions in the range from several tens of nanometers to several hundred nanometers, so that as a result a scale factor for the thickness of the polymer or material layer 8 corresponds to the cross section of the region, since the region must be in contact with the electrodes 4.4 'on the surfaces of the material. Effects that, due to spatially separated light emission, will therefore be significant only for very small light-emitting polymer diodes, usually several nanometers in size. On the other hand, there are also indications that the size of the light emitting polymer diodes 2 can be significantly reduced by reducing the size of the 9.9 'regions, thus avoiding any adverse spatial effects even with light emitting diodes of about 10 nm or about that size. Then the thickness of the emitter layer L ₂ will be comparable, so that, as a result, at least in theory, it will be possible to realize optical logic elements in accordance with the present invention with a size of at most several nm and the corresponding thickness.

The photovoltaic or photoconductive detector 3 is similar in design to the emitter 2 or the color light source, i.e., polymer diodes similar to those shown in FIG. 8, but now with areas absorbing light, so that, depending on the spectrum, the detected change in the light intensity generates a signal voltage or the output voltage of the detector V _D on the electrodes 4.4 '. In the same way, the detector 3 in this case must be tuned to the spectral properties of the emitter 2. For the detector 3, the same scaling factors are used as for the light-emitting polymer diode 2, and the sizes of the regions 9.9 'determine the layer thickness. Obviously, the layer thickness should be compatible with the cross section of the region, thus allowing contact with the 5.5 'electrodes.

 You may notice that the optical logic element OLE, which is described with reference to the use of light-sensitive organic matter, i.e. bacteriorhodopsin, and light-emitting polymer diodes, is designed to be directly addressable, thus avoiding the restrictions on scale factors that would exist if light would pass to light-sensitive organic matter through optically active structures in the form of refractive or diffractive elements provided outside the structure bacteriorhodopsin and between it and the emitter. In this case, the size of the optical logic element will be limited by the wavelength of the used light emission.

 An optical OLU logic device in accordance with the invention will now be discussed with reference to FIG. 11-17.

FIG. 11 shows a project where the optical logic device is in the form of a two-dimensional array or structure S of optical logic elements OLE and shows a section through a string of such optical logic elements, here we can see an example of optical logic elements OLE _II and OLE _In in m • n array, and in this case m = n = 5. FIG. 12 shows an optical logic device in accordance with the invention, where two-dimensional arrays or structures S ₁ ,. .., S _{x of the} optical logic elements OLE form a stack in layers, and the two-dimensional array of optical logical elements thus forms the surface of the structure S in the volumetric optical logic device OLU. The OLU optical logic device is thus implemented as a three-dimensional array, for example, with m • n • x logic elements, where x is the number of structures S placed in the stack. FIG. 12, which schematically illustrates a slice through connected lines of stacked arrays that form structures S, for example, a line m = 1 in an m • n array, with two optical logic elements in the SLE structure S ₁ denoted by OLE _II and OLE _In respectively. As shown in FIG. 12, the OLU optical logic device includes five such structures S such that x = 5, and FIG. 12 can therefore be regarded as an illustration of a volumetric optical logic device with 5 • 5 • 5 = 125 optical logic elements OLE. An optically, thermally and / or electrically insulating layer L _{5 is} provided between each of the structures.

 In a variant of the OLU optical logic device, groups of optical logic elements OLE, for example, in the form of rows, columns, or subarrays of m • n arrays, can be assigned to a common optical detector 3, which covers all the logic elements in the group, as illustrated in FIG. thirteen.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, each structure S may include one or more layers L ₆ , which includes integrated electrodes 4.4 'and electrical conductors 5.5' assigned to the optical logic elements of the OLE, which form part of the structure S and are used to address and address the optical logical device OLU. As illustrated in FIG. 14, 5.5 'conductors can be orthogonal to each other, then it will be possible to implement 4.4' electrodes at the intersection point of 5.5 'conductors in each optical logic element of the OLE, forming, for example, a diode structure in layers L ₂ and L ₃ between the points of intersection of the conductors 5.5 '.

The location of the directly addressed optical logic elements of the OLE in the array is shown in perspective in FIG. 15, where the individual layers of the array, that is, the activator layer L ₂ , the material storage medium layer L _2, and the detector layer L ₃ , which form the optical logic elements of the OLE, are illustrated in a disassembled form. The array consists of m • n logical elements of the OLE and is illustrated in FIG. 15 is actually like a 5 • 5 array. The activator layer 12 is provided with 5.5 'conductors, see FIG. 14, with 4.4 'electrodes placed at each of the 5.5' conductor intersection points, whereby voltage is applied. If activator 2 is a light emitting diode, it will now emit light, which affects the material storage medium in the form of a light-sensitive organic substance, such as bacteriorhodopsin, in layer L ₁ . Detection occurs in the layer of detector L ₃ , where in this case, when illuminated at each intersection point of the provided conductors 5.5 ', the light-absorbing diode of detector 3 is set in the same way. The optical logic element thus formed is illustrated as OLE ₁₃ , and in this case, for the sake of simplicity, each of the layers L ₁ , L ₂ , L ₃ or matrices is illustrated as a 5 • 5 matrix.

The optical logic device, which is illustrated in FIG. 15 can now be used to form a volumetric optical logic device consisting of structures S in the form of a series of layers or matrices S ₁ , ..., S _x . Such an optical OLU logic device is illustrated in cross section in FIG. 16, and in each individual layer S, an activator level K ₂ , a level of material storage medium L _1, and a detector level L _{3 are} provided. As in FIG. 15, 5.5 'conductors are provided here, shown here integrated into the L ₆ layer, and the electrodes in the optical logic element OLE are located between the intersection points of the 5.5' conductors. Between each of the structures S and, possibly also above and below the OLU device, an optically, thermally and / or electrically insulating layer A ₅ can be provided. For simplicity's sake, the device as illustrated in FIG. 16 is shown in the form of a cube with 5 • 5 • 5 optical logic elements, that is, a total of 125. The size of the optical logic element OLE ₁₃ within the structure S ₁ is illustrated, and it can correspond to the optical logic element OLE ₁₃ , as illustrated in FIG. fifteen.

 Since each of the optical logic elements of the OLE is directly addressed, that is, both the emitter and the detector are placed adjacent to light-sensitive organic matter and are located inside the device, the number of elements, which can include an m • n array, and the number of structures S, which can to be stacked on top of each other are simply practical issues.

In an optical optical logic device based on the use of directly addressable optical logic elements OLE in accordance with the present invention, as illustrated in FIG. 11-12, the only restriction on the scale factor, at least in theory, is the size of the molecules of the material storage medium 1 if light-sensitive conformationally reactive material is used, along with the smallest feasible size of the corresponding activator 2 and detector 3. In practice, experiments indicate the fact that when using light-emitting polymer diodes, optical logic elements can now be implemented in the amount of several tens of nanometers, and accordingly These are the conductive structures for the electrodes for emitters and detectors, so that, as a result, the real area of the optical logic element can be from 2500 nm ² to 10000 nm ² . In the worst case, this amounts to 10 ¹⁰ optical logic elements per cm ² , and when implemented volumetrically with the appropriate layer thickness, it becomes possible to achieve 10 ¹⁵ directly addressed optical logic elements in 1 cm ³ in the optical logic device in accordance with the invention. It is believed possible to achieve an improvement in linear dimensions by one order of magnitude, thereby allowing the implementation of 10 ¹⁸ optical logic elements in accordance with the present invention in 1 cm ³ . In order to give an idea of the memory capacity of such an optical logical device, implemented as optical memory, it should be mentioned that this value corresponds to the storage of 10 ¹⁴ ordinary book pages, which may be sufficient for most types of archival storage.

FIG. 17 schematically illustrates an addressing scheme of a single structure S ₁ in an optical logic device OLU in accordance with the invention. For the sake of simplicity, FIG. 17 illustrates the structure of S ₁ in the form of a 5 • 5 array, that is, with 25 logic elements. For each row or column of the array, 5.5 'electrical conductors are provided in an orthogonal arrangement, thereby allowing access and addressing of the optical logic element at the 5.5' intersection points. With such a scheme, it is also possible to address and activate all optical logic elements of the OLE. Conductors 5.5 'are connected to the corresponding shaper circuits 10, 11, which are connected via an interface 12 to the main bus 13, which is illustrated in section in FIG. 17 and extends vertically to the plane of the figure so that it is connected with all structures S that form part of the optical logic device of the OLU. This may be appropriate for the addressing that needs to be done in a hierarchical structure that can uniquely address the OLU optical logic device, for example, at the structural level, or functionally cooperated groups of optical logic elements of the OLE in each structure S or a single optical logical element of the OLE in the structure S Specialists in this field understand that there are a number of options for implementing direct access and addressing of a surround optical logical device, and that also It is possible to perform parallel access and addressing using multiplexed communication lines. The order of reference and addressing, however, is not part of the present invention and therefore will not be discussed here in more detail.

 The optical logic device OLU in accordance with the invention is suitable not only for storing data, but can also be implemented as a device for processing data. In this case, data processing should be understood in the sense that optical logic elements are combined into optical logical networks in order to perform logical operations either by means of optical logic elements and chains of optical logic elements that perform these functions, or in arithmetic chains in order to to perform binary arithmetic operations implemented through arithmetic registers based on two-valued logic. It will thus be possible to configure the groups of logical elements of the OLE in structure S as memory registers, logical registers, and arithmetic registers, since each logical element of the OLE in the register and each register can be accessed and addressed independently. The registers can be configured together to form an optical data processor. This optical data technology is similar to standard data technology based on semiconductor components and is familiar to those skilled in the art. In this regard, reference may be made, for example, to the work of Alastair D. McAulay, "Optical Computer Architectures. The Application of Optical Concepts to Next Generation Computers", John Wiley & Sons 91991), especially "Part II: Subsystems for Optical Computing", p. . 127-342.

 The optical logic elements of the OLE in accordance with the invention can be combined into an optical logic device of the OLU, which should be used to process data, forming logical circuits that, for example, can fulfill all sixteen possible Boolean logical functions of two binary variables, is used as a material medium memory electron-trapping material or a light-sensitive conformationally reactive material such as bacteriorhodopsin. The combination of four optical logic elements OLE that implement these sixteen Boolean functions is illustrated in FIG. 18, made in the form of an array of 2 • 2, moreover, logical 0 is hatched and logical 1 is not hatched. These sixteen Boolean functions of two binary variables are illustrated in Table I, while Table II shows how Boolean functions are generated by a combination of logical operations.

 With reference to Table III, it will now be shown how some Boolean logical functions of two binary variables are realized through optical logic elements OLE, where the material storage medium 1 is an electron-capture material. In this case, the electron-trapping material is brought to the ground state by illumination with blue light. Subsequent illumination with red light releases captured electrons, and orange light is emitted. In this case, the activator 2 should be designed in the form of two separate addressable radiation-emitting devices, for example, in the form of a voltage-adjustable light emitting diode. A band-pass filter can be used at this stage, which can be made in the form of a layer between a material storage medium 1, that is, an electronically exciting material, and a detector 3, thereby blocking blue and red light. Because of this, only forced orange fluorescent light will be detected.

If bacteriorhodopsin is used as the material storage medium, in this case the material storage medium will exhibit various logical states by changes in the optical permeability, detection is thus performed in the absorption mode, and not in the radiation mode, as is the case with fluorescence. An example of the implementation of some Boolean logical functions of two variables is illustrated in Table IV, where it is assumed that a photocycle for bacteriorhodopsin is used, where the molecules transition between the ground state of bR and the metastable state of M. Illumination of the state of bR with yellow light leads to a transition to state M, which absorbs blue light while blue light illumination in state M returns the bacteriorhodopsin molecules to the ground state bR. The state of the molecule can be monitored by measuring the absorption of blue light through a weak blue probe beam. In the circuit illustrated in Table IV, where blue light is used, both for the pre-processing stage and for the input signal, as well as for the output signal, it will be necessary to perform the separation by arranging time. A photocycle that includes state M is partially performed thermally with time constants τ _p which can be several milliseconds. In order to achieve high speeds of full processing, it is necessary to address in parallel the optical logic elements of the OLE in the optical logical elements of the OLE in the optical logic device of the OLU or in groups of such optical logical elements of the OLE. The use of bacteriorhodopsin as a material storage medium of memory 1, however, offers individual possibilities for the implementation of logic circuits based on the use of the optical logic element OLE in accordance with the present invention. It may be mentioned that both the processing of the bR state by yellow light and the processing of the M state by blue light are photochemical reactions, that is, they are produced by photons, and that in each case the switching speed mainly depends on the intensity of the used light radiation. It is also possible to use switching between, for example, the ground state bR and state K, and this transition occurs very quickly τ _v 10 ps). After the absorption of blue light in the bR state, the molecule passes to the state K through the intermediate state J for several picoseconds. State K absorbs at a wavelength that is shifted compared to the absorption wavelength of state bR, that is, at a wavelength of 590 nm, and can return to state bR through a very fast photoinduced process that lasts at most several nanoseconds. When using bacteriorhodopsin as a material storage medium, it may also be attractive to use the long-lived stable state Q, which forms part of the aforementioned branching reaction of the bacteriorhodopsin photocycle. Using the ground state bR and state Q, respectively, will provide high spectral isolation between the input light (recording light) and the probe light (reading light), as well as a simple and direct implementation of logic circuits that implement Boolean functions. One of the possible disadvantages is the relatively low cycle speed between states, but, again realizing the optical logic device in accordance with the invention with the possibility of continuous parallelism in addressing, it will be possible to achieve very high data rates.

 If the optical logic device in accordance with the invention is to be implemented as an optical data processor, this implies that it should be possible to implement arithmetic registers that perform binary arithmetic operations. An example of a parallel algorithm for four-bit full addition is illustrated in FIG. 19 and can be performed using logic elements with a material storage medium based, for example, on electronically exciting material or bacteriorhodopsin, see FIG. 18. A binary half-adder can very simply be composed of an exclusive OR logic element for a sum and a transfer conjunctor. To realize full addition, it is necessary to take into account the transfer from the half-sum of the least significant bit. Therefore, gates with three inputs are required. This eliminates the use of optical logic elements OLE in accordance with the present invention, since they have only two inputs for a logical operation. In order to overcome this problem, an iterative algorithm with parallel flow can be used, and an example of four-bit addition, which requires only four iterations, is shown in FIG. 19. The advantage of this algorithm is that a number of shift-and-logic operations can be performed repeatedly using the same optical logic element with two inputs, that is, in the case of electron-trapping material or bacteriorhodopsin with light at two wavelengths. Parallel logical operations "exclusive OR" and "AND" can be performed by the optical logic element. Alternatively, the biased intermediate output signal can be returned back to the logic device through the detector and addressing system to excite the optical logic element with light at the input wavelengths. It is assumed that, in any case, the entire optical system can be implemented on the basis of this principle by means of optical logic elements OLE and with a material storage medium or in the form of an electronically exciting material or a conformationally reactive material that can undergo a photocycle, such as bacteriorhodopsin, if the activator is a light emitting, wavelength-tunable polymer diode as described above.

 The above examples of the implementation of Boolean logic functions and arithmetic operations, as should be understood, are intended as an example, and specialists in this field it is clear that in the field of the present invention it is possible not only to implement such operations, but all logical and arithmetic operations in two-valued logic in general using optical logical device in accordance with the invention, configured in an architecture that implements an optical data processor with high capacity and speed. There is no reason why the optical logic device OLU in accordance with the present invention should not be configured in a large computer with a number of processors that can be addressed and can work in solid parallel. If the processors are designed as systolic vector processors and if a dynamically optimized network topology is used, the use of directly addressable optical logic elements in accordance with the present invention increases the efficiency and capacity, which is several orders of magnitude superior to the standard technology based on semiconductors, and additionally entail advantages that only optics-based data technology seems to be able to implement.

Claims (31)

 1. An optical logic element (OLE), in particular an optical logic element having several stable states, and even more specifically a directly addressable optical logic element including an optical material storage medium (1), in which under the influence of an applied magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field or energy supplied, the material storage medium (1) can go from one physical or chemical state to a second physical or chemical state, where physical or a certain logical value is assigned to the physical state, and where a change in the physical or chemical state of the logical element causes a change in the logical value and is made by reversing and addressing the logical element magnetically, electromagnetically, electrically or optically to write, read, save, erase and commute the assigned logical values, characterized in that in the optical logic element, made directly addressable without the use of active optical ele copyspace, a material storage medium (1) is provided in or on a substantially layered structure, an activator (2) that generates a magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field or applies energy to a material storage medium (1) is provided in or adjacent to a substantially layered structure and is integrated with it, an optical detector (3) for detecting the optical response of the material storage medium due to the physical or chemical state of the material storage medium is provided in or near the substantially stand structure and is integrated with it, wherein the optical logic element (Ole) thus made as an integrated unit consisting of the carrier material memory (1), the activator (2) and the detector (3). 2. The optical logic element (OLE) according to claim 1, characterized in that the material storage medium (1) is in the form of a first layer (l ₁ ), the activator (2) is presented in the form of a second layer (l ₂ ) adjacent to the first a layer (l ₁ ), and integrated with it, or represented integrated in the first layer (l ₁ ), and an optical detector (3) that detects a state in a material storage medium (1), is presented in the form of a third layer (l ₃ ), adjacent to the first.  3. The optical logic element according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that under the influence of a magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field or applied energy, the material storage medium (1) can switch from one state to the second and return from the second state to the first state.  4. The optical logic element according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that under the influence of a magnetic, electromagnetic or electric field or applied energy, the material storage medium (1) can transition from one state to a second, constantly stable state.  5. The optical logic element according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the optical material storage medium (1) is made of electronically exciting material.  6. The optical logic element according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the optical material storage medium (1) is made of a fluorescent substance.  7. The optical logic element according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the optical material storage medium (1) is made of a conformationally reacting substance. 8. The optical logic element according to claim 2, characterized in that each layer (l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ ) contains the main material.  9. The optical logic element of claim 8, wherein the base material is optically transparent.  10. The optical logic element of claim 8, wherein the base material consists of one or more polymeric materials. 11. The optical logic element of claim 10, characterized in that in the second (l ₂ ) and third (l ₃ ) layers more than one polymer material is used. 12. The optical logic element according to claim 11, characterized in that at least one of the polymeric materials in the second (l ₂ ) and / or third (l ₃ ) layer is an electrically conductive polymer material. 13. The optical logic element according to claim 8, characterized in that the material storage medium (1) is provided on or included in the main material in the first layer (l ₁ ). 14. The optical logic element according to claim 8, characterized in that the activator (2) consists of one or more directly or indirectly emitting radiation devices (2 ₁ , ..., 2 _n ), and radiation emitting devices are provided on or included in the main material of the second layer (l ₂ ).  15. The optical logic element of claim 14, wherein the radiation-emitting device (2) has electrical access and circulation.  16. The optical logic element of claim 15, wherein the radiation emitting device (2) is a light emitting diode.  17. The optical logic element according to clause 16, wherein the light emitting diode (2) is a polymer diode.  18. The optical logic element of claim 15, wherein the radiation-emitting device (2) is a semiconductor laser.  19. The optical logic element according to claim 15, characterized in that the radiation-emitting device (2) is configured to frequency, wherein the frequency is adjusted in connection with electrical handling. 20. The optical logic element according to 14, characterized in that it provides more than one radiation-emitting device (2) and radiation-emitting devices (2 ₁ , ..., 2 _n ) emit light of different frequencies preselected.  21. The optical logic element of claim 14, wherein the radiation emitting device (2) is mediated by the radiation emitting device and the radiation emitting device (2) is mediated to be activated by an external radiation source (2 '). 22. The optical logic element according to claim 2, characterized in that the optical material storage medium (1) is integrated with the activator (2) into a common physical structure, so that the first (L ₁ ) and second (L ₂ ) layers are combined into a common layer (l _c ).  23. The optical logic element according to claim 22, characterized in that the activator (2) is installed so as to be destroyed when energy is applied, after which it itself forms a material storage medium in a constant stable state, or, being integrated with a material storage medium ( 1), leaves it in the same constant stable state. 24. The optical logic element according to claim 2, characterized in that the second layer (l ₂ ) and the third layer (l ₃ ) are provided on the opposite sides of the first layer (l ₁ ) and are adjacent to it.  25. The optical logic element according to claim 1, characterized in that the optical detector (3) is an optical detector that has electrical access and access. 26. The optical logic element according to claim 15 or 25, characterized in that for electrical access and circulation it is equipped with electrodes (4, 4 ') and electric conductors (5, 5') integrated in the second (l ₂ ) and third ( l ₃ ) layers.  27. The optical logic element according to claim 26, wherein the electrodes (4, 4 ′) and electrical conductors (5, 5 ′) are based on an electrically conductive polymer material. 28. The optical logic element according to claim 2, characterized in that adjacent to the first layer (l ₁ ) or integrated therein, another layer (l ₄ ) is provided for generating an electric field, the generated electric field being used to influence the optical response material storage medium (1) in the time interval, the frequency interval or the tension interval, respectively. 29. The optical logic element according to claim 28, wherein another layer (l ₄ ) includes one or more electrically conductive polymer material.  30. Optical logic device (OLU), especially for storing data or performing logical and arithmetic operations, which includes a number of optical logic elements (OLE), moreover, optical logic elements (OLE) are optical logic elements that have several stable states, and are also directly addressed by optical logical elements, including optical material storage medium (1), in which under the influence of the applied magnetic, electromagnetic or electric about a field or energy supplied, a material storage medium (1) can transfer from one physical or chemical state to a second physical or chemical state where a certain logical value is assigned to a physical or chemical state and where a change in the physical or chemical state of a logical element causes a change in the logical value and is produced by reversing and addressing a logical element in a magnetic way, electromagnetically, electrically or optically for writing, reading, storing, erasing or switching an assigned logical value, characterized in that in optical logical elements made directly addressable without the use of active optical elements, a material storage medium (1) is provided in or on a substantially layered structure, an activator (2) that generates magnetic, electromagnetic or an electric field or applies energy to a material storage medium (1), is provided in or adjacent to a substantially layered structure and integrates with it, an optical detector (3) for detecting the optical response of a material storage medium, due to the physical or chemical state of the material storage medium, is provided in or adjacent to a substantially layered structure and is integrated with it, wherein the optical logic element (OLE) is thus constituted as an integrated unit consisting from a material storage medium (1), an activator (2) and a detector (3), while the device (OLU) includes at least one structure (S) formed by optical logic elements, an optical device The serial storage medium (1), activator (2) and detector (3) in each optical logic element (OLE) in the structure (S) are combined and connected with the material storage medium, activator and detector in the surrounding logical elements (OLE) in the structure ( S), moreover, structure (S), thus, forms a body with a flat or curved surface, and each optical logic element (OLE) in structure (S) has an unambiguous correspondence between a material storage medium (1) and an activator (2) and a correspondence between a material storage medium (1) and an optical detector (3) for unambiguous detection of a physical or chemical state in a material storage medium, thus making it possible to access each optical logic element (OLE) and address each optical element (OLE) in structure (S) individually. 31. The optical logic device according to claim 30, characterized in that in each logical element (OLE) the material storage medium (1) is presented in the form of a first layer (l ₁ ), the activator (2) is presented in the form of a second layer (l ₂ ) adjacent to the first layer and integrated with it, or represented integrated in the first layer (l ₁ ), and an optical detector (3) that detects the state of the material storage medium (1), is presented in the form of a third layer (l ₃ ) adjacent to the first layer (l ₁₎ and integrated with it, wherein the optical logic e ement (Ole), thus forming a single integrated assembly consisting of at least three or two layers respectively (l _1, l _2, l _3, l _1, l ₃₎ and each of the layers (L _1, L ₂ , l ₃ ) is combined and connected with the corresponding layers (l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ ) in the surrounding logical elements (OLE), and the structure, thus, forms a body with a flat or curved surface from connected and mutually adjacent corresponding layers ( l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ ; l ₁ , l ₂ ).

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