COHERENT TRANSIENT CONTINUOUS OPTICAL PROCESSOR

After the absorption profile of an inhomogeneously broadened solid is programmed by two temporally modulated pulses (at least one encoded wi th a pattern), it can be gated to fix the ground-state spectral popula tion distribution permanently. The subsequent illumination of the soli d by an uninterrupted, temporally modulated optical beam results in a coherent transient output signal that represents the correlation of th e signal with the stored pattern. Multiple patterns can be stored at d ifferent locations on the sample and accessed randomly, enabling fast reprogramming of the processor. A performance analysis of this optical signal processor predicts that real-time continuous processing is pos sible with a processor bandwidth that exceeds 5 GHz, a time-bandwidth product that exceeds 10(4), and a pattern storage density that exceeds 10(5) patterns per square centimeter.