A new, to our knowledge, approach for the planar integration of optical correlators is demonstrated. A VanderLugt-type architecture was used to allow the processing of the spatially incoherent signals of active optoelectronic smart-pixel-device arrays. In a folded optical system all passive components were implemented as a single multiple-phase-level element. The relations among the spatial resolution, the light efficiency, and the system design parameters are derived. High signal quality and low noise levels were achieved experimentally.
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