Information theory in optoelectronic systems: introduction to the feature

There has been an explosion of recent interest concerning information theor y in optoelectronic (OE) systems. This interest has been motivated in part by (1) the accelerating deployment of OE components into digital systems, ( 2) the blurring of the analog-digital interface within many OE applications , and (3) the increasing sophistication and complexity of computational too ls. These trends are being driven by revolutionary improvements in both OE devices and electronic processors together with increasing demand for high- speed and high-capacity solutions. This feature addresses the application o f information- and communication-theoretic concepts, algorithms, and techni ques to important problems in OE system analysis and design. (C) 2000 Optic al Society of America OCIS code: 070.0070.