1 Tb/s all-optical XOR and AND gates using quantum-dot semiconductor optical amplifier-based turbo-switched Mach–Zehnder interferometer

The turbo-switch (TS) architecture conceived for speeding up the response of conventional semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is combined for the first time with the exceptional ultrafast capability of quantum-dot (QD) SOAs. The possibility of exploiting this combination in the Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) for implementing fundamental all-optical (AO) XOR and AND logic gates run at 1 Tb/s is numerically investigated, assessed, and verified. The simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the QDSOA-based TS-MZI scheme over its QDSOA-based MZI counterpart, as quantified by the improved quality factor, which can be achieved under more favorable operating conditions. The outcomes of the conducted theoretical treatment can help execute AO signal processing tasks with enhanced performance while keeping pace with the perpetual increase of single-channel data rates in an efficient and affordable manner.