Spatially incoherent holographic correlator

摘要

An incoherent holographic correlator comprising a two- dimensional array of surface-emitting lasers which are selectable in an arbitrary pattern so as to emit a beam containing the pattern. The pattern is spatially incoherent because the lasers are not phase-locked but it is temporally coherent. The beams are collimated onto a recorded hologram, and each of the beams produces a diffracted beam from the recording. All the diffracted beams are focused onto an imaging plane. A high-intensity spot represents a strong correlation between the selected pattern on the laser array and the image previously recorded in the hologram.