Method and system for optical computing

Abstract

Optical data processing (Fig. 1), comprising: splitting (102) a source light (101) into a first and second light signal, provided for a first (121) and second (122) interferometer arm, respectively; applying a delay (150) to part of the first light signal and recombining (150) the delayed part with the first signal; applying a first sequence of phase-shifts (131) to the (recombined) first light signal to encode a first data stream (141); applying a second sequence of phase-shifts (132) to the second light signal to encode a second data stream (142); combining (160) phase-shifted (recombined) first light signal and phase-shifted second light signal. The source light may be a coherent (i.e. laser) wavelength-swept light signal. The first data stream may have a unit interval corresponding to the delay. The combined light signal may be an encoded combination of first and second data streams.

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