Abstract: Embodiments of the invention pertain to remote optical control of holding beam-type, optical flip-flop devices, as well as to the devices themselves. All-optical SET and RE-SET control signals operate on a cw holding beam in a remote manner to vary the power of the holding beam between threshold switching values to enable flip-flop operation. Cross-gain modulation and cross-polarization modulation processes can be used to change the power of the holding beam.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention pertain to remote optical control of holding beam-type, optical flip-flop devices, as well as to the devices themselves. All-optical SET and RE-SET control signals operate on a cw holding beam in a remote manner to vary the power of the holding beam between threshold switching values to enable flip-flop operation. Cross-gain modulation and cross-polarization modulation processes can be used to change the power of the holding beam.

Abstract: A bistable optical device such as a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) emits an output beam at either a high level or a low level, depending on which of the two stable states the device occupies. The device is switched between the two stable states without a need for a change in the input holding power by changing the hysteresis of the device. The hysteresis is changed by the application of set and reset optical pulses which change the gain and therefore the refractive index of the device. The device has applications to optical communication and computing systems such as optical memory, wavelength conversion and pulse length conversion.