Design of polarization encoded all-optical 4-valued MAX logic gate and its applications

Quaternary maximum (QMAX) gate is one type of multi-valued logic gate. An all-optical scheme of polarization encoded quaternary (4-valued) MAX logic gate with the help of Terahertz Optical Asymmetric Demultiplexer (TOAD) based fiber interferometric switch is proposed and described. For the quaternary information processing in optics, the quaternary number (0, 1, 2, 3) can be represented by four discrete polarized states of light. Numerical simulation result confirming the described methods is given in this paper. Some applications of MAX gate in logical operation and memory device are also given.