HYBRID MICROCOMPUTER-BASED OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR UTILIZING A TWO-DIMENSIONAL ACOUSTO-OPTIC MODULATOR

WITH THE INTEREST IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF VERY FAST COMPUTERS, MUCH FASTER THAN THE CONVENTIONAL DIGITAL CHIP-BASED SYSTEM, THE FUTURE SEEMS VERY BRIGHT FOR OPTICAL-SIGNAL PROCESSING. TWO-DIMENSIONAL OPTICAL PROCESSING IS BEING USED FOR PATTERN RECOGNITION, MACHINE VISION, AND OPTICAL COMPUTING. CURRENTLY, A MAGNETO-OPTIC SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR (MOSLM) IS USED TO CONVERT ARRAYS OF PROGRAMMABLE ELECTRONIC SIGNALS DERIVED FROM A MICROCOMPUTER INTO TWO-DIMENSIONAL, ADDRESSABLE DATA. A UNIQUE 2-D ACOUSTO-OPTIC SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR (AOSLM) (INSTEAD OF A MOSLM) IS BEING CONSTRUCTED AS A SIGNAL PROCESSOR COMPONENT WHICH CAN BE USED IN AN OPTICAL COMPUTER ARRANGEMENT. THIS DEVICE UTILIZES A UNIQUE TECHNOLOGY OF FABRICATING GIGAHERTZ (GHZ) ACOUSTO-OPTIC BRAGG CELLS (1-D SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS). COMPUTER MODELING IS BEING UNDERTAKEN TO OBTAIN THE PROPER DIRECTIONS FOR OPTIMUM DEVICE PERFORMANCE FOR A 2-D GAP SPATIALLIGHT MODULATOR. THE DEVICE IS BEING CONSTRUCTED AND TESTED. REAL-TIME PROGRAMMABLE OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR SYSTEM AND 2-D SPATIALLIGHT MODULATOR IS BEING DESIGNED. BENEFITS OF THE AOSLM OVER THE MOSLM IS HIGHER BANDWIDTH, INCREASE OF RESOLUTION AND LESS LOSS OF LASER INTENSITY.