Photonic crystal integrated logic gates and circuits.

This paper presents and demonstrates the three logic processing levels based on complementary photonic crystal logic devices through photonic integrated circuit modeling. We accomplished a set of logic circuits including AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR, FAN-OUT, HALF ADDER, and FULL ADDER based on photonic crystal slab platforms. Furthermore, we achieved efficient all-optical logic circuits with contrast ratios as high as 5.5 dB, demonstrated in our simulation results, guaranteeing well-defined output power values for logic representations; a clock-rate up to 2 GHz; and an operating wavelength at λ ≈ 1550 nm. Thus, we can now switch up for high computing abstraction levels to build photonic integrated circuits rather than isolated gates or devices.

Complementary photonic crystal integrated logic devices.

We theoretically propose and demonstrate through numerous simulations complementary photonic crystal integrated logic (CPCL) devices. Simulation results provide demonstration of a highly efficient clock rate, higher than 20 GHz, guaranteeing operation at both input and output with the same wavelength (around λ=1550nm). The proposed devices show well-defined output power values representing the two logic states 1 and 0, with a contrast ratio as high as 6 dB. The results presented here provide countless possibilities for future research, targeting the development of photonic crystal logic and communications systems with CPCLs acting as the core hardware devices.

Characterization of natural photonic crystals in iridescent wings of damselfly Chalcopteryx rutilans by FIB/SEM, TEM, and TOF-SIMS.

The iridescent wings of the Chalcopterix rutilans damselfly (Rambur) (Odonata, Polythoridae) are investigated with focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The electron microscopy images reveal a natural photonic crystal as the source of the varying colors. The photonic crystal has a consistent number and thickness (∼195 nm) of the repeat units on the ventral side of the wing, which is consistent with the red color visible from the bottom side of the wing in all regions. The dorsal side of the wing shows strong color variations ranging from red to blue depending on the region. In the electron microscopy images, the dorsal side of the wing exhibits varied number and thicknesses of the repeat units. The repeat unit spacings for the red, yellow/green, and blue regions are approximately 195, 180, and 145 nm, respectively. Three-dimensional analysis of the natural photonic crystals by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry reveals that changes in the relative levels of Na, K, and eumelanin are responsible for the varying dielectric constant needed to generate the photonic crystal. The photonic crystal also appears to be assembled with a chemical tricomponent layer structure due to the enhancement of the CH6N3+ species at every other interface between the high/low dielectric constant layers.