Optical cellular processor architecture 1 : Principles

Abstract

General characteristics and advantages of 2-D optical cellular processors are listed and discussed, with reference to the concepts of cellular automata, symbolic substitution, and neural nets. The role of optical interconnections and of quasilinear processing combining linear array operations and pointwise nonlinearities is highlighted. An architecture for optical implementation of cellular automata is introduced; it features high density 3-D optical shift-invariant interconnections and programmability of the interconnection pattern through adequate use of holographic connectors.