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].