Shared-hardware alternating operation of a super-parallel holographic optical correlator and a super-parallel holographic random access memory

John T. Shen, MEMBER SPIE Northwestern University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Evanston, Illinois 60208 Abstract. For practical pattern recognition and tracking systems, it is often useful to have a high-speed random access memory (RAM) that complements a holographic correlator. Recently, we have demonstrated a super-parallel holographic correlator, which uniquely identifies N images from a database using only O(AN) number of detector elements. We show how this correlator architecture, operated in reverse, may be used to realize a super-parallel holographic random access memory. We present preliminary results, establishing the feasibility of the superparallel holographic random access memory, and show that essentially the same set of hardware can be operated either as the super-parallel holographic optical correlator or as a super-parallel holographic random access memory, with minor reorientation of some of the elements in real time. This hybrid device thus eliminates the need for a separate random access memory for a holographic correlator-based target recognition and tracking system. © 2004 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. [DOI: 10.1117/1.1767193]