Light-Bullet Routing and Logic in Planar Waveguide Arrays

The manipulation and routing of light-bullets in a VCSEL-like planar waveguide array is studied numerically. By partitioning the gold contact layer used for current injection into discrete and individually addressable segments, an electronically controllable and non-uniform gain profile is created. Light-bullets typically follow the gradient of the gain and are therefore completely controllable by manipulating the gain profile. In addition, by exploiting gain-mediated interactions between nearby light-bullets, the NAND and NOR gates are also constructed. Therefore, planar waveguide arrays with addressable gain profiles appear to be an ideal technology for optical routing applications as well as for photonic logic devices.