Performance enhancement in acousto-optic image processing

From the transfer functions of an acousto-optic (AO) cell, it is found that some basic image processing can be accomplished by using AO cells. Instead of frequency-plane filters, the AO cells are placed directly behind the object. The one dimensional edge enhancement results using one AO cell can be improved by using two acousto-optic cells which are put in tandem and with contra-propagating sound. The dominant second derivative operation obtained from the transfer function of the undiffracted order works like a one-dimensional Laplacian operator which enables improved edge enhancement