Issue 2, 2016

Photoswitching between black and colourless spectra exhibits resettable spatiotemporal logic

Abstract

Logic is the key to computing. Traditionally, logic devices have been fabricated by the top-down approach, whose dimensions are drastically limited. The ultimate goal is to use molecular tailorability to design logics using the “bottom-up” approach. Here we report an unprecedented photochromic molecule that undergoes unimolecular logic switching when excited anywhere in the entire UV-visible spectrum, thus a bottom-up, all-photonic, molecular logic gate. Specifically, these molecular photonic logics embedded in the polymer thin films function as the “AND” or “OR” gate at different temporal responses. To achieve high information-processing density, moreover, a ternary flip-flap-flop gate is realized in the molecular logic because the fact that this photochromic molecule can be photoswitched anywhere in its UV-vis spectrum enabled three different lasers (532, 473, and 561 nm) as the inputs to deliver the complex logic optical outputs.

Graphical abstract: Photoswitching between black and colourless spectra exhibits resettable spatiotemporal logic

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
24 Sep 2015
Accepted
23 Oct 2015
First published
23 Oct 2015

Mater. Horiz., 2016,3, 124-129

Author version available

Photoswitching between black and colourless spectra exhibits resettable spatiotemporal logic

Y. Wu, Z. Guo, W. Zhu, W. Wan, J. Zhang, W. Li, X. Li, H. Tian and A. D. Q. Li, Mater. Horiz., 2016, 3, 124 DOI: 10.1039/C5MH00223K

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