Design Method and Implementation of Ternary Logic Optical Calculator

Compared with the conventional electronic computer, the Ternary Optical Computer (TOC) is the better idea for next generation computing tools because it possesses numerous data bits, enough intercom bandwidth, and inter controller made of electronic computer, but when designing optical calculators in TOC, there is much randomness that bring the manufacture of the optical calculators on lots of difficulties. In order to clear up the randomness, we have analyzed various designs of the optical calculators. In this research, a new rule, named the Decrease-Radix Design, was founded. According to the rule we established a design criterion for multivalued logic calculator which includes eight steps. According to the criterion, all ternary logic optical calculators can be designed by a few basic units and the calculators have clear structures. It is possible to reconstruct any ternary logic optical calculator with the same basic units group by virtue of the criterion. Followed the design criterion, a hundreds-bit reconfigurable ternary logic optical calculator has been designed till June, 2007. In this paper we introduce the Decrease-Radix Design rule and the design criterion of multi-valued logic calculator in detail, and also introduce the design, manufacture and the experiment of the hundreds-bit reconfigurable ternary logic optical calculator. In the end, some photos of the optical calculator and its experiment will be shown. [Keyword] Design Criterion, Ternary Logic, Reconfigurable, Ternary Optical Computer, Optical Calculator