Parameter design and performance analysis of a ultrafast all-optical XOR gate based on quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers in nonlinear mach–zehnder interferometer

This paper presents the parameter design and performance analysis of a 160 Gb/s all-optical XOR gate based on cross-gain modulation (XGM) in a nonlinear Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) with quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers (QD-SOAs). Detailed numerical simulations of the QD-SOA parameters and optical signal parameters are performed to elevate the gate performance. With the optimized parameters, a Q factor over 8 dB is obtained. The possibility of operating at higher speed of the XOR gate is demonstrated as well. The results will be helpful for the design and performance analysis of practical quantum dot devices.