| abstract |
All-optical devices, e.g., optical switches and modulators (10), and logic gates (40) such as optical AND and OR gates, that include photochromic materials (20) having first and second stable states, such as bacteriorhodopsin, organic fulgides, azo and fluorescent dyes, phycobiliproteins, rhodopsins, and their analogs, irradiated in a four-wave mixing geometry, are described. These devices can be used in a wide variety of systems, such as, e.g., optical signal processors and optical computers. |