Digital Fourier optics
Date
1996-03-10Source Title
Applied Optics
Print ISSN
1559-128X
Electronic ISSN
2155-3165
Publisher
Optical Society of America
Volume
35
Issue
8
Pages
1212 - 1219
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
Analog Fourier optical processing systems can perform important classes of signal processing operations
in parallel, but suffer from limited accuracy. Digital–optical equivalents of such systems could be built
that share many features of the analog systems while allowing greater accuracy. We show that the
digital equivalent of any system consisting of an arbitrary number of lenses, filters, spatial light
modulators, and sections of free space can be constructed. There are many possible applications for
such systems as well as many alternative technologies for constructing them; this paper stresses the
potential of free-space interconnected active-device-plane-based optoelectronic architectures as a digital
signal processing environment. Implementation of the active-device planes through hybridization of
optoelectronic components with silicon electronics should allow the realization of systems whose
performance exceeds that of purely electronic systems.
Keywords
Fast Fourier transformsFractional Fourier transforms
Image processing
Light beams
Optical devices
Optical systems