All-optical pulse generator using nonlinear interference filters

Summary form only given.Pulse coupled neural network (PCNN) has been proven to be a useful tool in image transforms that remove unimportant details while improving the over-all quality of the image. In the basic model of the pulse coupled neuron proposed by Eckhorn et al. the pulse generator is the central processing unit. The firing rate of a single neuron is a sigmoidal function of the feeding input. Therefore the original input can be approximately recovered at any time by an average taken over many pulse periods because the pulse frequency is faster for stronger feeding inputs. An all-optical pulse generator using an external feedback loop has been reported previously. Here we present the results of research on a new all-optical pulse generator based on internal feedback by using nonlinear interference filters. We have studied and demonstrated the feasibility of single-channel optical pulse generators for applications in PCNNs.