<title>A Hybrid Coherent Optical Processor</title>

Abstract

Optical data processing is one of the most powerful and versatile processing tools to emerge in recent years. Numerous texts, conferences, and special issues of journals have been devoted to its many accomplishments. There are many types of optical processors: some use non-coherent rather than a coherent light source, while others use non-holographic rather than holographic processing methods. The hybrid optical processor described in this paper can be partitioned into two sections. One is a conventional coherent optical processor while the second section is a digital minicomputer. These two sections communicate via a special purpose digital interface. With this configuration, the best features of both optical and digital processing are retained.