JPH0829821A - Optical operation element using optical limiting material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an optical computing element capable of realizing an XOR element as well together with an AND element and OR element. CONSTITUTION:This optical operation element E consists of an optical distributor 1 which divides incident coherent light into two light rays, two kinds of light limiting materials A, B which are respectively arranged within the travels of two rays and vary in the relational characteristics of the intensity of the transmitted light with the intensity of the incident light and an optical synthesizer 5 which synthesizes two light rays passing through these materials into one light say at a phase difference 180 deg.. The AND element, OR element or XOR element is realized with two kinds of the light limiting materials A, B by changing the combination of the materials varying in transmittance and the intensity of the saturation transmitted light. The optical distributor 1 and the optical synthesizer 5 include a means constituted of a half mirror, mirror, prism, etc., and a means using a beam splitter in which two pieces of the optical fibers are joined.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical arithmetic element for an optical computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The information processing capability of computers has been improving year by year, and the number of calculations has already reached several tens of billions per second. This is the case when an electronic arithmetic element is used, but it is expected that a parallel computer using an optical arithmetic element can expect a number of operations that exceeds this by several orders of magnitude, and in particular will enable large-scale high-speed image processing. It is being appreciated.

As an optical operation element that constitutes an optical computer, a non-linear optical element that responds stepwise to input light is generally required. As an example, an optical operation element has been proposed in which an organic nonlinear optical material such as a naphthalocyanine dye is arranged in a Fabry-Perot resonator (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-77028). This element can be used as an AND element and an OR element because the refractive index of the internal nonlinear optical material changes due to an increase in incident light and exhibits a nonlinear optical response.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above optical arithmetic element is
Although the AND element and the OR element are provided, there is a problem that the XOR element cannot be provided. That is, this element shows a nonlinear optical response due to a change in the refractive index of the nonlinear optical material inside when the incident light increases, and although an AND element and an OR element can be realized, the change in the refractive index is limited to one direction. Therefore, the function as the XOR element cannot be realized.

The present invention basically solves such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical operation element which can realize an XOR element as well as an AND element and an OR element.

[0006]

An optical arithmetic element using an optical limiting material according to the present invention includes an optical distributor for distributing incident coherent light into two light beams and a path for the two light beams. Two types of optical limiting materials, each having different relation characteristics of incident light intensity and transmitted light intensity, and an optical combiner for combining two transmitted lights passing through the same material with a phase difference of 180 ° into one It consists of

These two types of optical limiting materials have the same transmittance in a range where the incident light is weak, and the two types of optical limiting materials having different saturated transmitted light intensities as the incident light intensity is increased. Can be used to obtain AND and OR elements. Similarly, for these two types of optical limiting materials, when two types of optical limiting materials having different transmittances in the range where the incident light is weak and having the same saturated transmitted light intensity when the incident light intensity becomes high are used, An XOR element can be realized.

There are various possible configurations of the above-mentioned optical distributor and optical combiner, but there are two typical ones, one using a half mirror and the other using an optical fiber. Ah First, the structure using the half mirror will be described. The light distributor has a half mirror arranged obliquely with respect to the incident light path, and the light combiner transmits the light transmitted through one of the optical limiting materials. , A half mirror obliquely placed in the path, and either the light distributor or the light combiner has a prism for giving a phase difference to two light rays. In this configuration, due to the prism and the optical path difference, 18
A phase difference of 0 ° is realized.

Explaining the structure using an optical fiber, the optical distributor comprises a beam splitter in which two optical fibers are joined, and the optical combiner also transmits the light transmitted from each optical limiting material. Is formed by joining two optical fibers that guide each other. In this configuration, the light that has passed through the different optical limiting materials with a phase difference of 180 ° is combined due to the optical path difference due to the difference in the length of the optical fiber.

[0010]

As described above, the optical operation element of the present invention comprises the optical distributor, the optical limiting material having two different characteristics, and the optical combiner. Then, the light rays that have passed through the above two types of optical limiting materials are combined with a phase difference of 180 °.

Therefore, by combining the above two kinds of optical limiting materials, elements having various characteristics can be manufactured. For example, in the range where the incident light is weak, their transmittances are the same, and when the incident light intensity is increased and two kinds of optical limiting materials with different saturated transmitted light intensities are combined, the input light intensity reaching the saturated transmitted light is increased. An AND element or an OR element can be realized by the difference of First, if the transmitted light saturates when the incident light intensity is lower than a certain threshold, an OR element can be realized. Similarly, if the combination is such that the transmitted light is saturated where the input light intensity is higher than the threshold, an AND element can be realized.

If a combination of the above two kinds of optical limiting materials has a difference in transmittance in the range where the incident light is weak and the saturated transmitted light intensity becomes the same when the incident light intensity becomes high, the incident light is In the extremely weak range, the output light is also weak, and output light with a certain intensity is obtained with respect to the incident light to the extent that only one of the optical limiting materials reaches saturation, and the intensity of the input light is further increased. When both of the two optical limiting materials become saturated, the output lights cancel each other out. Therefore, with such a combination of optical limiting materials, an XOR element is obtained.

In this way, the optical operation element using the optical limiting material according to the present invention changes the combination of the optical limiting materials to change the AND element and the O element.
Not only the R element but also the XOR element can be realized.

[0014]

【Example】

(First Embodiment) An optical operation element using the optical limiting material according to the present invention is constructed as shown in FIG. 1, for example. In this example, both the light distributor and the light combiner are composed of half mirrors.

On the left side of FIG. 1, a half mirror H is obliquely placed, and coherent input lights L1 and L2 are combined in phase to generate an input light L, which is incident on an optical operator E. Let The synthesizing means of the incident light L is not limited to such a half mirror, but in any case, the optical operation element E is an AND element, an OR element, or an XOR.
In order to function as an element, it is necessary to combine two input rays L1 and L2 to generate a single input ray L.

In the optical operation element E using the optical limiting material according to the present invention, the coherent input light L synthesized as described above is incident on the optical limiting material A from the left side in FIG. Come on. Immediately before the material A, the half mirror 1 is fixed at an angle of 45 ° and transmits and reflects the input light L at an intensity ratio of 1: 1 to distribute the light.

The transmitted light of the half mirror, which has passed through the half mirror 1 and has half the intensity of the input light L, is directly incident on the optical limiting material A, transmitted therethrough and emitted from the right end thereof. Then, it is reflected by the mirror 4 installed at an angle of 45 ° and enters the half mirror 5 as transmitted light LA.
On the other hand, the reflected light which is reflected by the half mirror 1 and which has changed the 90 ° path is internally reflected twice inside the prism 2 installed facing the path and is inverted. Further, the light is reflected by a mirror 3 which is provided immediately before the second optical limiting material B at an angle of 45 °, and is directly incident on the same material B installed in parallel to the optical limiting material A. .
The intensity of the incident light at this time is equal to that of the light incident on the light limiting material A described above.

The light beam thus entering the optical limiting material B becomes a transmitted light LB by passing through the same material, and is a half mirror immediately after the optical limiting material B and obliquely installed at an angle of 45 °. It is incident on 5. By the way, at this time, since the transmitted light LA that has simultaneously transmitted through the optical limiting material A as described above also enters the half mirror 5 from the side, both of the transmitted light LA and LB are collected by the half mirror 5. The output light LC is combined and output.

If the prism 2 is installed between the optical limiting material B and the half mirror 5 together with the mirror 3 as required, the same result can be obtained. Such a configuration corresponds to claim 4. By the way, in FIG. 1, the phase relationship at the time of combining the transmitted lights LA and LB incident on the half mirror 5 from two directions in the half mirror 5 is a reverse phase relationship in which the phases are inverted by 180 ° as shown in FIG. .
This is because there is a detour formed by the prism 2 in the path through which the incident light that becomes the transmitted light LB passes, and the phase is inverted by exactly 180 ° due to the strictly adjusted optical path difference. .

Therefore, if the transmitted lights LA and LB have the same intensity, they cancel each other and the output light LC becomes zero, and if there is a difference between the two, the intensity difference becomes the intensity of the output light LC. In this way, in this optical operation element,
Since the difference between the transmittances of the two types of optical limiting materials A and B appears in the intensity of the output light LC, various optical operations can be performed by combining optical limiting materials having different relations between the incident light intensity and the transmitted light intensity. The device can be realized.

For example, in the optical limiting materials A and B,
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the transmittances of the two are the same in the range where the incident light is weak, and if the characteristics of the saturated transmission intensity differ as the incident light intensity is increased, The intensity of the output light LC is as shown in FIG. That is, in the range where the intensity of the incident light L is lower than a certain value (about 1.5a), there is no difference between the transmitted lights LA and LB, and therefore the two cancel each other out, and the intensity of the output light LC is zero. However, when the incident light L reaches a certain intensity (about 1.5a), the optical limiting material A is saturated and does not transmit any more. On the other hand, the optical limiting material B does not saturate until the incident light intensity reaches 2a, and the transmitted light intensity continues to increase at the same transmittance. Then, a difference in transmitted light intensity is generated between the light limiting material B having a high saturated transmitted light intensity and a shaded portion in FIG.

Then, when they are combined by the above-mentioned optical combiner with a phase difference of 180 °, the above difference in transmitted light intensity is obtained as the output light LC. Therefore, the relationship between the incident light intensity of the input light L and the intensity of the output light LC as shown in FIG. 4 is established. The configuration of the optical arithmetic element using such a combination of optical limiting materials corresponds to claim 2.

Then, from the optical arithmetic element of this construction,
An ND element and an OR element can be made. That is,
Considering that the input light intensities are a combination of two input lights L1 and L2 in phase with each other, the intensity of the output light LC changes depending on the combination of the respective incident light intensities, and the function as an AND element or an OR element is obtained. To do. For example, if the intensities of the above-mentioned two input lights L1 and L2 are zero or a, respectively, the incident light intensities of the input light L synthesized by matching the phases will be zero, a, and 2a. Only when both of the two input lights L1 and L2 have the intensity of a, the intensity of the combined input light L becomes 2a, and as shown in FIG. 4, the output light LC of intensity b is generated. .

Therefore, this element functions as an AND element. For reference, Table 1 shows the relationship between the incident light intensity of the two input lights L1 and L2 and the transmitted light intensity of the output light LC.

[0025]

[Table 1] Relationship between incident light intensity and transmitted light intensity of AND element Similarly, assuming that the intensities of the above-mentioned two input lights L1 and L2 are zero and 2a, respectively, the incident light intensities of the input light L synthesized by matching the phases are zero, 2a, and 4a. If one of the two input lights L1 and L2 has an intensity of 2a, the combined input light L becomes 2a or more, and as shown in FIG. 4, an output light LC of intensity b is generated. .

Therefore, this element functions as an OR element. For reference, Table 2 shows the relationship between the incident light intensity of the two input lights L1 and L2 and the transmitted light intensity of the output light LC.

[0027]

[Table 2] Relation between incident light intensity and transmitted light intensity of OR element In order to obtain an OR element having such a characteristic, even if the incident light intensity of the input light L that is a combination of the two input lights L1 and L2 is a, one of the optical limiting materials has already caused a saturated transmission phenomenon. It is also possible to adopt a combination of two kinds of optical limiting materials so that the difference in transmitted light amount reaches b.

Next, the optical limiting materials A and B
In addition, as shown in FIGS. 5C and 5D, the transmittances of the two are different in the range where the incident light is weak, and the saturated transmission intensity becomes the same as the incident light intensity is increased. Then, the intensity of the output light LC becomes as shown in FIG.
That is, one of the optical limiting materials is saturated at a certain value c of the intensity of the incident light L and is not transmitted any more, and the intensity difference of the transmitted light with the other optical limiting material forms a peak. Then, in the range where the intensity of the incident light L is higher than a certain value (2c or less), there is no difference between the transmitted lights LA and LB that have already been saturated at the same intensity, so that they cancel each other out and the output light The LC intensity is zero.

The structure of the optical arithmetic element by the combination of such optical limiting materials corresponds to the third aspect. Then, from the optical operation element of this configuration, XO
R element can be made. That is, assuming that the input light L is a combination of two input lights L1 and L2 in phase with each other, the intensity of the output light L changes depending on the combination of the intensities of the respective input lights L1 and L2, so that the It works.

For example, if the intensities of the above-mentioned two input lights L1 and L2 are zero or c, respectively, the incident light intensities of the input lights L combined in phase are zero, c and 2 respectively.
There are 3 ways of c. Two of them, input light L1 and L2
Only when one of them has the intensity of c, the combined input light L becomes c, and as shown in FIG.
Produces output light.

Therefore, this element functions as an XOR element. For reference, Table 3 shows the relationship between the incident light intensity of the two input lights L1 and L2 and the transmitted light intensity of the output light LC.

[0032]

[Table 3] Relationship between incident light intensity and transmitted light intensity of XOR element (Regarding the optical limiting material) From this, it is understood that the core of the present invention lies in the optical limiting material. Therefore, next, the optical limiting material will be described.

As the optical limiting material, a compound that does not have strong absorption in the vicinity of the wavelength of incident light is generally used.
For example, when the wavelength is 532 nm, acetylene oligomer, diacetylene oligomer (Japanese Patent Application No. 6-21916) synthesized by high-pressure polymerization, fullerene (C ₆₀ , C ₇₀ , C ₇₆ ,
C ₈₄ , C ₉₀ , C ₉₄ ), fullerene derivatives, π-electron conjugated compounds such as phthalocyanine and indanthrone, Kin
A g complex [C ₅ H ₅ Fe (CO)] ₄ and a metal cluster compound are used.

These compounds are added in an amount of 0.001 with respect to solvents such as toluene, chloroform, THF, methyl alcohol, benzene, carbon disulfide, acetone and methylene chloride, and transparent polymers such as PMMA, polystyrene and polycarbonate. It is desirable to disperse it in an amount of 60 to 60% by weight. This is because if it is less than 0.001% by weight, the light limiting effect is not exhibited, and if it exceeds 60% by weight, the solubility is adversely affected.

Further, among these compounds, the oligomer has moldability, so that it can be used even if formed into a film. When the optical limiting material is used by dispersing it in a solvent, it is placed in a transparent cell. As the material of the cell, a material that does not absorb the wavelength of incident light is suitable, and for example, a material that does not dissolve in a solvent such as quartz or glass is used.

As the saturable absorber used in the optical limiting material of the present invention, a dye having a strong absorption near the wavelength of incident light is used. For example, the wavelength of incident light is 532
For example, rhodamine 590 is used for nm, and phthalocyanine is used for wavelength of 694 nm. Therefore, next, an example of using the optical limiting material will be specifically described.

First, phenylacetylene was enclosed in a flexible Teflon bag container, and while maintaining the temperature at 150 ° C., silicon oil was used as a pressure medium at a pressure of 0.52 GPa for 5 hours, and phenyl was obtained by high-pressure polymerization. An acetylene oligomer was synthesized. Then, a solution prepared by dissolving the same oligomer in toluene and adjusting the concentration to 10 wt% is used, and the optical path length is 1 mm.
The glass cell was sealed. This was set as one optical limiting material A in the optical arithmetic element having the configuration of FIG.

Similarly, a diphenyldiacetylene oligomer synthesized by high-pressure polymerization was dissolved in toluene to give 0.1
Adjust to a concentration of 2 wt%. This solution was sealed in a glass cell having an optical path length of 1 mm, and the other optical limiting material B was set in the optical arithmetic element having the configuration of FIG. The second harmonic (wavelength 532 nm, beam diameter 8 m) generated by irradiating the SHG crystal with pulsed Nd: YAG laser light
m) was input to this optical operation element as input light, and the transmitted light intensity per pulse was measured using a power meter. The incident light intensity and the transmitted light intensity from each optical limiting material at that time are shown in the graph of FIG. Similarly, FIG. 8 is a graph showing the transmitted light intensity of the optical operation element, that is, the output light intensity, which is synthesized as the difference in the transmitted light intensity from both optical limiting materials. Here, FIG. 7 corresponds to FIG.
It will be noted that FIG. 8 shows the characteristics corresponding to FIG.

As can be seen from FIG. 8, in this optical operation element, there is almost no transmitted light intensity while the incident light intensity is small, and transmission is exhibited when the incident light intensity exceeds a certain value. Therefore, this optical operation element has a function as an AND element. Furthermore, by increasing the incident light intensity on both cells, it can be used as an OR element.

Next, the optical limiting material for forming the XOR element will be explained with a concrete example. Fullerene C ₆₀
Was dissolved in toluene and adjusted to a concentration of 0.052 wt%. Then, this solution was enclosed in a glass cell having an optical path length of 1 mm, and set as one optical limiting material A in the optical arithmetic element having the configuration of FIG.

Similarly, the diphenyldiacetylene oligomer synthesized by high-pressure polymerization was dissolved in toluene to give 0.2
Adjust to wt% concentration. This solution was sealed in a glass cell with an optical path length of 1 mm, and the other optical limiting material B was used.
Was set in the optical arithmetic element having the configuration of FIG. Then, as in the previous case, the second harmonic wave (wavelength 532 nm, beam diameter 8 mm) generated by irradiating the SHG crystal with pulsed Nd: YAG laser light is made incident on this optical operation element as input light, and transmission per pulse is performed. The light intensity was measured using a power meter. The incident light intensity and the transmitted light intensity from each light limiting material at that time are shown in the graph of FIG. Similarly, FIG. 10 is a graph showing the transmitted light intensity of the optical arithmetic element, that is, the output light intensity, which is synthesized as the difference between the transmitted light intensities from the two optical limiting materials. It should be noted that FIG. 9 shows characteristics corresponding to FIG. 5 and FIG. 10 corresponds to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 10, in this optical operation element, the transmitted light intensity becomes maximum at a certain value of the incident light intensity, and when the incident light intensity is further increased, the transmitted light intensity decreases conversely and finally disappears. . Therefore, this optical operation element has a function as an XOR element. In this way,
It was confirmed by experiments that an AND element, an OR element, and an XOR element could be realized.

This is the end of the detailed description of the first embodiment of the optical operator using the optical limiting material according to the present invention. (Second Embodiment) By the way, the operation and effect of the optical arithmetic element using the optical limiting material has been described so far by assuming that the optical distributor and the optical combiner have the configuration shown in FIG.
It is possible to produce an optical distributor and an optical combiner which satisfy the contents of claim 1 with a configuration other than that shown in FIG.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the input light L, which is a combination of two input lights (not shown), is distributed at an intensity ratio of 1: 1 by the half mirror 1 installed at an angle of 45 °, and the transmitted light is an optical limit. The reflected light is incident on the coating material A, and the reflected light is reflected by a mirror installed at an angle of 45 ° in front of the other optical limiting material B and is incident on the optical limiting material B. As described above, the light distributor composed of the half mirror 1 and the mirror 3 can also distribute the input light L into two parallel light beams having the same intensity and make them incident on the two light limiting materials A and B. It is possible.

Similarly, the transmitted light from the two optical limiting materials A and B can be combined by the mirror 4 and the half mirror 5 to obtain the output light LC. That is, the transmitted light from the optical limiting material B is reflected by the mirror 4 provided at an angle of 45 ° immediately thereafter, and is reflected by the half mirror 5 also provided at an angle of 45 ° immediately after the optical limiting material A. Incident. At this time, at the same time, the half mirror 5 transmits the transmitted light L from the optical limiting material A.
A is incident, and the transmitted light LB from the light limiting material B is combined.

At this time, the optical path through the optical limiting material B is longer than the optical path of the optical limiting material A by the distance between the half mirror 1 and the mirror 3 and the distance between the mirror 4 and the half mirror 5. Therefore, by precisely adjusting this optical path difference, it is possible to reverse the 180 ° phase and combine the transmitted light in the half mirror 5.

By changing the combination of the optical limiting materials as in the first embodiment, AND element, OR element and XOR element can be obtained. (Third Embodiment) As shown in FIG. 12, it is possible to realize the optical distributor with a further different structure.

That is, the input light L, which is a combination of two input lights (not shown), is divided into two light rays by the concave prism 6, and is converted into two parallel light rays by the convex prism 7 which is kept behind it. , Two light limiting materials A and B are incident. Here, it is assumed that the prism 6 is formed by abutting two trapezoidal prisms on a surface, and forms a sharp valley in the recess.

After the two parallel rays thus distributed pass through the optical limiting materials A and B,
As in the case of the embodiment or the second embodiment, one output light LC is generated by the optical combiner in which the mirror 4 and the half mirror 5 are combined.
Is synthesized. At that time, between the transmitted light LA and LB,
An optical path difference corresponding to the distance between the mirror 4 and the half mirror 5 occurs.
Therefore, by precisely setting this interval, it is possible to combine the transmitted light from the optical limiting materials A and B in a reverse phase with a phase difference of 180 °.

However, when the input light L enters with a circular cross section, it is divided into light beams with a left and right semicircular cross section, so there is a risk that there will be a problem that they do not overlap exactly when combined. Therefore, it is desirable that the input light L has a rectangular cross section centered on the plane of symmetry of the prism 6.
Then, the AND element, the OR element, and the XOR element can be obtained by changing the combination of the optical limiting materials as in the first embodiment. (Fourth Embodiment) In the above embodiments, the optical arithmetic element was considered on the premise that coherent light enters the space.
Now, let's consider an optical computing element that processes light incident on an optical fiber to perform computation.

FIG. 13 shows an embodiment of the optical arithmetic element using the optical limiting material according to the present invention when the optical fiber is used for the optical distributor and the optical combiner. Incident light L, which is a combination of two input lights (not shown), enters from the upstream side of the optical fiber 8. The optical fiber 8 has a beam splitter 9 in the middle thereof, and divides the incident light L into an optical fiber 8 that guides the optical limiting material A and an optical fiber 8 that guides the optical limiting material B half by half. Here, the beam splitter 9 is formed by cutting a part of the side surfaces of the two optical fibers 8 and 8 into a semicircular shape and joining the cut surfaces together. Is to be distributed at the joint. The opposite end is a non-reflective end 10 so that the backflowing light does not become noise.

The incident light thus divided into halves is radiated from the ends of the optical fibers 8 and 8, and the convex lenses 11 and 1 placed so that the ends are in focus.
The light is converted into parallel rays by 1 and is incident on the light limiting materials A and B, respectively. Then, the parallel rays transmitted through the optical limiting materials A and B are condensed by the convex lenses 11 and 11, respectively, and enter the optical fibers 8 and 8 again. Then, the transmitted lights LA and LB are gathered in the beam splitter 9 and are combined into an output light L.
It is output as C. It should be noted that half of the light combined by the beam splitter 9 is guided to the non-reflective terminal 10 and is absorbed there to end.

Here, when the output lights are combined, the length of the optical fiber 8 attached to the optical limiting material A and
Note that there is a difference in the length of the optical fiber 8 associated with the optical limiting material B. By accurately setting this difference, it becomes possible to combine the transmitted lights LA and LB with a phase difference of 180 °. In addition to adjusting the length of the optical fiber 8, or the convex lens 1
It is also possible to adjust the optical path difference and the phase by finely adjusting the distance between 1 and the optical limiting materials A and B.

In this way, the AND element, the OR element and the XOR element can be obtained depending on the combination of the optical limiting materials as in the first embodiment. However, in this configuration using a convex lens, the optical limiting material A,
Since there is a possibility that the spatial distribution of the intensities of the light rays that pass through B may not be uniform, there is a possibility that the characteristics that are not very preferable as an arithmetic element may be obtained.

This example corresponds to claim 5. (Fifth Embodiment) In the description so far, it was assumed that the optical limiting material was put in a cell such as glass whose both ends were transparent, so that a convex lens was required. Consider connecting directly to the optical limiting material.

As shown in FIG. 14, in the present embodiment, the optical limiting materials A and B are respectively used as a very thin cylindrical body 12,
Enclose in 12. The inner surface of the cylinder is mirror-finished,
Optical fibers 8, 8, 8 and 8 are watertightly inserted from both ends, and both ends are sealed with a sealing material. The input light L incident from the left side is a combination of two input lights (not shown), and is split by the beam splitter 9 in which the optical fibers 8 and 8 are joined as in the previous embodiment. The light is guided to the left end of the cylindrical bodies 12, 12 and directly enters the light limiting materials A, B in the cylindrical bodies 12, 12, respectively. And the transmitted light LA, LB
Are combined at the joint having the function of the beam splitter 9 through the optical fibers 8, 8 connected to the right end of the tubular body, and output light LC is output from the right end of the optical fiber 8. In this combination, as is apparent from the figure, there is a difference in the lengths of the optical fibers 8, 8, 8 and 8, and the optical path lengths are different. Therefore, by setting this precisely, it is possible to transmit with a phase difference of 180 °. It is possible to combine the lights LA and LB. It should be noted that a part of the output light branched at the junction is absorbed by the non-reflective terminal 10 and therefore does not interfere and adversely affect.

Thus, by changing the combination of the optical limiting materials as in the first embodiment, the AND element,
An OR element and an XOR element can be obtained. In this embodiment, unlike the previous embodiment, the optical fiber 8,
Direct optical limiting material A, B on the tip of 8, 8, 8
No need for a convex lens to connect to. Further, since the cells 12 and 12 which are extremely thin and small are used in place of the cells such as glass, there is an advantage that the whole can be made extremely small and lightweight.

This embodiment, like the third embodiment, corresponds to claim 5. (Conclusion) As described in detail above, according to the optical arithmetic element using the optical limiting material according to the present invention, the optical arithmetic element having the function of the XOR element in addition to the AND element and the OR element has a simple structure. Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an optical operation element using an optical limiting material including a half mirror and a prism.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a phase relationship between light rays LA and LB that have respectively passed through two types of optical limiting materials.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing optical characteristics of optical limiting materials A and B.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing optical characteristics of an optical operation element using the optical limiting materials A and B.

5 is a graph showing optical characteristics of optical limiting materials C and D. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing optical characteristics of an optical arithmetic element using optical limiting materials C and D.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing optical properties of diphenyldiacetylene oligomer and phenylacetylene oligomer.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing optical characteristics of an optical operation element using a diphenyldiacetylene oligomer and a phenylacetylene oligomer.

FIG. 9 is a graph showing the optical characteristics of diphenyldiacetylene oligomer and fullerene C60.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing the optical characteristics of an optical calculation element using a diphenyldiacetylene oligomer and fullerene C60.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of an optical arithmetic element using an optical limiting material including a half mirror and a mirror.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of an optical arithmetic element in which a light distributor is configured by concave and convex prisms.

FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of an optical arithmetic element using an optical fiber and a convex lens.

FIG. 14 is a configuration diagram of an optical arithmetic element using an optical fiber and a cylindrical body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Optical Limiting Material B Optical Limiting Material E Optical Operation Element Using Optical Limiting Material H Half Mirror L Input Light L1 Input Light Part 1 L2 Input Light Part 2 LA Optical Limiting Material A Transmitted Light LB Optical Limiting Material Transmitted light of material B Output light obtained by combining LC LA and LB in opposite phases 1 Half mirror 2 Prism 3, 4 Mirror 5 Half mirror 6 Concave prism 7 Convex prism 8, 8, 8, 8 Optical fiber 9, 9 Optical fiber Beam splitters 10 and 10 with non-reflective end 11, 11, 11, 11 Convex lens 12, 12 Inner surface is a cylindrical body

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Norio Sato, Nagachite-cho, Aichi-gun, Aichi-gun, 1-chome Yokocho, 1-chome, Toyota Central Research Institute Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Hidero Takahashi, Aichi-gun, Nagakute-cho, Aichi, 41 Address 1 Toyota Central Research Institute Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An optical distributor for distributing incident coherent light into two light rays, and two types of light rays having different relations between incident light intensity and transmitted light intensity, which are respectively disposed in the paths of the two light rays. And an optical combiner that combines two transmitted lights that pass through the same material into one with a phase difference of 180 °. 2. The above-mentioned two kinds of optical limiting materials are
The optical operation element according to claim 1, wherein the transmittances are the same in a range where the incident light is weak, and the optical arithmetic element is composed of two kinds of optical limiting materials having different saturated transmitted light intensities as the incident light intensity is increased. 3. The two kinds of optical limiting materials are composed of two kinds of optical limiting materials, which have a difference in transmittance in a range where incident light is weak and have saturated saturated light intensity matching when the incident light intensity becomes high. The optical arithmetic element according to claim 1, which is provided. 4. The light distributor has a half mirror obliquely arranged with respect to the incident light path, and the light combiner is obliquely included in the path of the transmitted light passing through one of the optical limiting materials. 2. The optical operation element according to claim 1, further comprising a half mirror placed thereon, and either the light distributor or the light combiner has a prism for providing a phase difference between two light beams. . 5. The light distributor comprises a beam splitter in which two optical fibers are joined together, and the photosynthesizer also joins two optical fibers for guiding transmitted light from respective optical limiting materials. The optical arithmetic element according to claim 1, wherein