An Optical/Digital Processor: Hardware and Applications

A real-time two-dimensional hybrid processor consisting of a coherent optical system, an optical/digital interface, and a PDP-11/15 control minicomputer is described. The input electrical-to-optical transducer is an electron-beam addressed potassium dideuterium phosphate (KD2PO4) light valve. The requirements and hardware for the output optical-to-digital interface, which is constructed from modular computer building blocks, are presented. Initial experimental results demonstrating the operation of this hybrid processor in phased array radar data processing, synthetic aperture image correlation, and text correlation are included. The applications chosen emphasize the role of the interface in the analysis of data from an optical processor and possible extensions to the digital feedback control of an optical processor.