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In this article, we experimentally demonstrate, for the first time, an all-optical bistable monolithically integrated photonic waveguide memory of distinctive simplicity, relying on two travelling waveguide Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers with Cross Gain modulation (SOA-XGM) phenomena. Experimental proof-of-principle memory operation and wavelength switching operation are demonstrated at 5Gb/s, featuring an Extinction Ratio of 6 dB and a 4.6 dB BER penalty, in the case of the memory operation, as well as a power penalty of 3.5 dB at 10−9 BER value, in the case of the wavelength switching. Being entirely designed and fabricated using standard library-based components, the proposed photonic memory fits within a 3.5 mm waveguide configuration of a generic monolithic InP platform, while its overall footprint is $3.5\times 2$ mm2 demonstrating a footprint reduction of 40% compared to previous hybrid SOA-MZI SR-FF architectures, holding the credentials for a fast photonic memory unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors demonstrate a novel all-optical T-flip-flop (TFF) layout utilizing a single optical latching element that comprises an integrated semiconductor optical amplifier and Mach-Zehnder inteferometer and a feedback loop. Experimental proof-of-concept verification is presented at 8 Mb/s using off-the-shelf bulk components and a fiber-based feedback implementation. The proposed TFF architecture requires the minimum number of active components and just a single toggling signal as input. Its simple circuit design is amenable with photonic integration and holds the credentials for operation at multi-Gb/s speeds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]