State Transformations of Colliding Optical Solitons and Possible Application to Computation in Bulk Media

Mariusz H. Jakubowski, Ken Steiglitz
Dept. of Computer Science
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544

Richard K. Squier
Dept. of Computer Science
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057

Abstract

Using explicit, bright-soliton solutions for the coupled Manakov system recently described by Radhakrishnan, Lakshmanan, and Hietarinta, we show that collisions of these solitons can be completely described by explicit linear fractional transformations of a complex-valued polarization state. We design sequences of solitons operating on other sequences of solitons that effect logic operations, including controlled NOT gates. Both data and logic operators have the self-restoring and reusability features of digital logic circuits. This suggests a method for implementing computation in a bulk nonlinear medium without interconnecting discrete components.