Nonlinear holographic associative memories

Abstract

Recent progress in the field of holographic optical associative memories is reviewed. The addition of nonlinear optical feedback to holographic memories using phase conjugation techniques has resulted in a new class of nonlinear holographic associative memories. These systems perform associations between input patterns and stored patterns as in classical holography. Unlike classical holography, however, external nonlinearities are used to make decisions and select between competing alternatives, perform error corrections, and increase storage capacity. Such optical associative processors may have applications in future implementations of optical neural networks.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>