RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL PROCESSOR INCORPORATING MASSIVE HOLOGRAPHIC FAN-IN/FAN-OUT

OPTICAL SIGNAL PROCESSORS HAVE BEEN LIMITED IN COMPUTATION THROUGHPUT BY A LACK OF PRACTICAL DEVICES TO IMPLEMENT THE INTERCONNECTION (FAN-IN AND FAN-OUT) OF MASSIVE PIXEL ARRAYS. OPTRON PROPOSES A RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL PROCESSOR INCORPORATING MASSIVE HOLOGRAPHIC FAN-IN/FAN-OUT DEVICES (HFFDS) TO INTERCONNECT PIXEL ARRAYS BETWEEN OPTRON'S LIQUID CRYSTAL SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR USED AS A PATTER GENERATOR, OPTRON'S TRANSMASSIVE AMPLITUDE MODULATOR, AND A DETECTOR ARRAY. TOGETHER, A PROCESSOR INCORPORATING THESE DEIVCES WILL ULTIMATELY BE CAPABLE OF PROCESSING AN ARRAY OF 4X10(5) INPUT PIXELS WITH A SINGLE RECONFIGURABLE FAN-OUT OR 200X200 PIXELS WITH A FAN-OUT OF UP TO 10(4X10(5) INTERCONNECTS) AT A FRAME RATE OF GREATER THAN 30HZ. THE PHASE I PROGRAM SEEKS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE MASSIVE HOLOGRAM ARRAY THROUGH THE OPTICAL CONSTRUCTION OF A NUMBER OF EXPERIMENTAL ARRAYS WITH SIZES OF UP TO 15X15 PIXELS, SINGLE PIXEL FAN-OUT OF UP TO 3, AND SUBHOLOGRAM DIMENSIONS AS SMALL AS 500 UM. DEVICE OPERATION WILL BE DEMONSTRATED IN A SIMPLIFIED PROCESSOR USING COMPONENTS AVAILABLE AT OPTRON. COMPUTER GENERATION OF MASSIVE ARRAYS WILL ALSO BE EXPLORED. IF SUCCESSFUL, OPTRON PROPOSES TO CONTINUE DEVELOPMENT IN PHASE II WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF HFFDS OF ARRAY SIZE UP TO 350X350 WITH SINGLE PIXEL A FAN-OUT OF UP TO 10, AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A RECONFIGURABLE OPTICAL PROCESSOR CAPABLE OF HANDLING A 50X50 INPUT ARRAY WITH FAN-OUT OF 10.