Application of coherent optical transducers to optical real-time information processing

Interest in optical information processing stems from the never-ending effort to increase data handling capacity and to improve the interface with human senses. The manipulation of two-dimensional data in an image format and processing in a parallel organized integral transform distinguishes the optical analog computer from its counterpart---the electronic digital computer processing one-dimensional data in a sequential manner. The optical analog computer is admirably suited to performing linear operations such as matrix products, Fourier transform integration, and related correlations and convolutions. The photographic plate is usually employed as the input, memory, control function, and output to demonstrate optical information processing concepts.