Photonically Switched Molecular Logic Devices

Photochromic molecules are bistable chromophores wherein the interconversions between the two states are triggered by exposure to light of different wavelengths. Hence, they are considered as potential candidates to be used as all-photonic molecular logic devices. This chapter describes our proof-of-principle realizations of photochromically controlled logic functions, from basic on-off switches via Boolean logic gates to the implementation of small logic circuits such as the half-adder/half-subtractor, multiplexer/demultiplexer, and encoder/decoder