DIGITAL FOURIER OPTICS

Analog Fourier optical processing systems can perform important classe s of signal processing operations in parallel, but suffer from limited accuracy. Digital-optical equivalents of such systems could be built that share many features of the analog systems while allowing greater accuracy. We show that the digital equivalent of any system consisting of an arbitrary number of lenses, filters, spatial light modulators, and sections of free space can be constructed. There are many possible applications for such systems as well as many alternative technologie s for constructing them; this paper stresses the potential of free-spa ce interconnected active-device-plane-based optoelectronic architectur es as a digital signal processing environment. Implementation of the a ctive-device planes through hybridization of optoelectronic components with silicon electronics should allow the realization of systems whos e performance exceeds that of purely electronic systems. (C) 1996 Opti cal Society of America