Large format smart pixel arrays and their applications

Abstract

Smart pixel arrays represent a revolution in optoelectronic technology. Sanders has been using high performance GaAs quantum well optics, silicon CMOS, and flip chip bonding technology to create large reflective mode 2D spatial light modulator and resonant cavity light emitting diode arrays up to 256/spl times/256=65536 pixels and 1D arrays as large as 1/spl times/2048 with 6 bits of gray scale (an integrated D/A converter is available on each pixel). The pixels are capable of switching 10's of picoseconds independently, though our current CMOS switches our arrays in 160 ns. We have demonstrated both phase and amplitude modulation as well as operation at both visible and IR wavelengths. We have been using these smart pixel arrays to demonstrate high speed, low power optical image processing for synthetic aperture radar (SAR), automatic target recognition (ATR), optical beam steering, optical data interconnect and optical memory access. While our hybrid technology's performance already allows system speeds 3 to 5 orders of magnitude greater than competing all-electronic and all-optical system approaches, there is still enormous opportunity for further performance increases.