Real-time, wide band information storage and signal processing devices are critical to many computing and communication systems. Optical spatial-spectral holography has the potential to perform real-time storage and continuous signal processing at data rates up to a terahertz, with storage/pattern densities on the order of a terabit per centimeter squared, and with data block sizes/time-bandwidth products well over 10000. These attributes, coupled with spatial selectivity and the ability to process amplitude, phase and frequency modulated signals makes spatial-spectral holography an extremely versatile technology. Applications include time-, frequency-, or code-division multiplexed routing, pattern recognition; multi-dimensional cache memory; high density, high bandwidth database memory, associative memory, and look- up tables; temporal encryption and decryption for secure communications; interior memory for optical networks; real- time address decoder; all optical passive routing of data; header and data stripper and isolator for network packets; true time delays for phase arrays with simultaneous tracking of multiple targets; and dynamic pulse shaping and distortion compensation.

Date Published: 5 November 1998
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 3468, Advanced Optical Memories and Interfaces to Computer Storage, (5 November 1998); doi: 10.1117/12.330431

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3468:
Advanced Optical Memories and Interfaces to Computer Storage
Pericles A. Mitkas; Zameer U. Hasan, Editor(s)