The marriage of photorefractive and semi-conductor devices for optical computing

Abstract

Photorefractive volume holographic recording materials have been widely used in various applications, such as holographic memories, optical interconnect, optical neural networks, and signal/image processing. Recent advances in semiconductor devices, especially surface-emitting microlaser arrays, allow a lot of flexibility and compactness, which traditional single, bulky laser-based optical systems lack. When the two technologies are married, a wide variety of new applications may become feasible. In this talk, we will show some of the possible applications of optics utilizing both devices. First, we will describe a volume holographic memory that can be rapidly accessed by using a beam steering optics that consists of a microlaser array and a collimating lens. Second, we will demonstrate a compact and robust holographic correlator that can possibly be integrated into a small scale by using semiconductor technology. Finally, we will describe a new method of all-optical image transmission through a single-mode fiber by using a two-dimensional multi-color surface-emitting laser diode array and a volume hologram. By using the method, a 2D image can possibly be transmitted in parallel at the speed of light, without requiring any intermediate electronics, such as a video camera or display devices, that result in a speed bottle-neck and high power consumption. A preliminary experimental result to prove the concept is demonstrated.