NOVEL JOINT TRANSFORM CORRELATOR ARCHITECTURE USING BACTERIORHODOPSINOPTICALLY ADDRESSABLE SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS

A novel, all-optical joint transform correlator using bacteriorhodopsi n (bR) spatial light modulators is presented. This architecture employ s relatively inexpensive white light sources and He-Ne lasers to explo it the photoinduced anisotropic properties of the bacteriorhodopsin fi lms. Due to the high spatial resolution of bacteriorhodopsin films, th e system offers the possibility of being reduced to a compact size. Ad vantages and limitations of the system are described and comparisons t o previously reported optical correlators using bR films are discussed . The authors believe that this is the first time an all bacteriorhodo psin based optical correlator is reported. (C) 1998 Society of Photo-O ptical Instrumentation Engineers. [S0091-3286(98)02401-5].