INTEGRAL OPTICAL DIGITAL-COMPUTERS

The specific features of optical digital computers in integrated circuit form, whose principle of operation is based on electrooptic light modulation, are considered. The design of an array processor unit is described. It is shown that the optical communication channels introduced into integrated circuit structures with the help of thin film light modulators enable one to reduce, compared to electronics with equivalent functional capability, the total number of device components by 2 orders of magnitude, the interconnections area by an order of magnitude, and to increase performance by a factor of m (m is the image dimension). The experimental results of studying a cell of dynamic memory constructed with the above components are presented. © 1990 Optical Society of America.