Abstract
A high-speed hybrid optical–digital correlator system was designed, constructed, modeled, and demonstrated experimentally. This correlator is capable of operation at approximately 3000 correlations/s. The input scene is digitized at a resolution of 512 × 512 pixels and the phase information of the two-dimensional fast Fourier transform calculated and displayed in the correlator filter plane at normal video frame rates. High-fidelity reference template images are stored in a phase-conjugating optical memory placed at the nominal input plane of the correlator and reconstructed with a high-speed acousto-optic scanner; this allows for cross correlation of the entire reference data set with the input scene within one frame period. A high-speed CCD camera is used to capture the correlation-plane image, and rapid correlation-plane processing is achieved with a parallel processing architecture.
© 1999 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
James H. Sharp, David M. Budgett, Tim G. Slack, and Brian F. Scott
Appl. Opt. 37(20) 4380-4388 (1998)
Philip Birch, Sovira Tan, Rupert Young, Triantafillos Koukoulas, Frederic Claret-Tournier, David Budgett, and Chris Chatwin
Opt. Lett. 26(8) 494-496 (2001)
R. D. Griffin and J. N. Lee
Appl. Opt. 33(29) 6774-6787 (1994)