NSF Young Investigator: Volume Holography for Optical Computing

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9358318 Gu The objective of this research is to investigate the applications of volume holographic materials for optical computing. Specifically, we propose to investigate two optical systems, one for 3 dimensional optical storage and the other for parallel optical matrix processing. Although memory and matrix processor perform different functions in computing, the two optical systems rely on many common properties of volume holography. For example, the fundamental geometrical limit determines the capacity of both systems, and the grating degeneracy causes crosstalk noise in storage but plays a key role in matrix multiplication. Therefore, it is important to understand the fundamental properties of volume holography and material response. Preliminary investigation has demonstrated that photorefractive crystals are promising candidates for both storage and matrix multiplication. However, practical problems such as noise sources, fixing technique and response time remain to be solved. We propose to carry out the investigation on volume holography in photorefractive materials. At the same time, we plan to explore the opportunities of other volume holographic media and compare their optical properties with those of photorefractives. We will also investigate the possibility of incorporating the optical memory and matrix processor into existing electronic computers. Furthermore, new concepts for optical computing will be developed during this investigation. ***