Error control on spectral data of four-wave mixing based on a-SiC technology

In this paper we exploit the nonlinear property of the SiC multilayer devices to design an optical processor for error detection that enables reliable delivery of spectral data of four-wave mixing over unreliable communication channels. The SiC optical processor is realized by using double pin/pin a-SiC:H photodetector with front and back biased optical gating elements. Visible pulsed signals are transmitted together at different bit sequences. The combined optical signal is analyzed. Data show that the background acts as selector that picks one or more states by splitting portions of the input multi optical signals across the front and back photodiodes. Boolean operations such as EXOR and three bit addition are demonstrated optically, showing that when one or all of the inputs are present, the system will behave as an XOR gate representing the SUM. When two or three inputs are on, the system acts as AND gate indicating the present of the CARRY bit. Additional parity logic operations are performed using four incoming pulsed communication channels that are transmitted and checked for errors together. As a simple example of this approach, we describe an all-optical processor for error detection and then provide an experimental demonstration of this idea. (C) 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.